Zdena Málková came to the new building at Slovanka already at the beginning of 1970's. Around 1976, she became a secretary of the Magnetism Department and she remained on this position until 2012, when the department was temporarily closed and she retired as well.
Zdena Málková worked at the Institute of Physics as far back as I can remember. She came to the new building at Slovanka at the beginning of the 1970’s. She first joined the Personnel Department, working with Irena Bíchová. Then, around 1976, she became the secretary and the guardian angel of the Magnetism Department. At that time, there were no personal computers and all publications had to be written by hand, and typed on a typewriter; this is where she stepped in. It wasn’t any of her duties, but she enjoyed helping us; as fast as lightning, her typing saved us a lot of time. Without her support, the house would have been forlorrn. Then, with the advance of computers, as typing was no longer a challenge, she would seek and find other ways to help us and, eventually, created a handy personnel management system for the Department that the other departments could have been envious of. She would manage all attendance sheets; file all personal information, publication copies, and later also any grant information once the grant systems saw the light of the day; in short, whatever the trouble was, we could rely on her assistance – she would flip through the pages of a file until she found what she was looking for.
In the 1970’s and early 80’s, social life at the Magnetism Department was blossoming and Zdena was no stranger to it. During the Department’s seminars, she proved to be an excellent cook led by a congenial chef Hanka Dvořáková. Below I would like to share a few photos from that time for your enjoyment.
Hrazany (June 1977)
Department seminar – Skryje (1986)
Department seminar in Desná – playing a party game (1978)
Holiday house (autumn 1986)
A trip to Amsterdam (1993)
A trip to Paris (1992)
Zdena worked at the Magnetism Department until 2012 when the Department was temporarily closed. She was always a great help appreciated by everybody who ever led the Department: Zdeněk Frait, Láďa Půst, Ivan Tomáš, including, eventually, me, Miloš Jirsa. She was what you’d call a perfect assistant, there was nothing about her work to be critical of. At the end of 2012, she retired to enjoy her family life with her daughter Ivanka in their shared family home. However, every month she would organize meetings of the veterans from the Magnetism Department a local pub.
Zdena Málková, the secretary of the Magnetism Department between 1976–2012
Unfortunately, several medical conditions piled up at the end of 2020; a broken leg, a stroke, and, eventually, a Covid-19. This, sadly, was too much to handle for her, in spite of her lasting sense of humour and optimism. She died shortly before Christmas. You will be missed by all of us, Zdena!
6 January 2021, Miloš Jirsa