V nakladatelství Oxford university Press vyšlo letos - snad vůbec poprvé - dílo českých badatelů v historických vědách, a to konkrétně v oblasti orální historie. Nabídku od nakladatelství ke knižnímu zpracování náhledu na naši současnost po roce 1968 dostal Miroslav Vaněk v roce 2011 na konferenci v Denveru a jak, říká, kdyby tušil, co ho čeká, nekývl by. Naštěstí přizval kolegu Pavla Mückeho, aby spolu podnikli martyrium přípravy anglickojazyčné publikace pro zámořského nakladatele. Když anglicky psaná kniha Velvet Revolutions: An Oral History of Czech Society vyšla, dostala se ke čtenářům nejprve v elektronické verzi na Novém Zélandu., The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 brought about the collapse of the authoritarian communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia. It also marks the beginning of the country's journey towards democracy. This book examines what the values in so-called real socialism were, as well as how citizens’ values changed after the 1989 collapse. In Velvet Revolutions (published in Oxford Oral History Series, Oxford University Press, 2016), Miroslav Vanek and Pavel Mücke of the Institute for Contemporary History of the CAS analyse and interpret 300 interviews on citizens’ experience of freedom and its absence, the value of work, family and friends, education, relations to public sphere and politics, the experience of free time, and the perception of foreigners and foreign countries. The interviewees are drawn from a wide range of professions, including manual workers, service workers, farmers, members of the armed forces, managers, and marketing personnel. All of the interviewees were at working age during the last twenty years of the communist regime and during the post-revolutionary transformation. From this rich foundation, the book builds a multi-layered view of the Czech history before 1989 and during the subsequent period of democratic transformation., and Marina Hužvárová.
We feature an interview with Prof. Zdeněk Herman, a renowned Czech chemist. In his research he focuses on the dynamics of chemical reactions or the collisions of ions that he calls "billiards with particles." Professor Herman studied chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University specializing in physical chemistry and radiochemistry. After completing his studies in 1957, he joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry (now J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of the ASCR). He was Head of the Department of Chemical Physics, and Deputy Director and Head of the Scientific Council of the Institute. Only after the fall of the communist regime was he allowed to complete his habilitation and become a Professor of Chemistry in 1996 at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague. Since 1989, he has served on many ASCR committees and in the Czech Government. In 2003, he was awarded the Czech Head National Prize. Professor Herman is also a sculptor and painter. For the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the ASCR, he crafted a bronze bust of the Institute's founder, Professor Vladimír Bažant. and Marina Hužvárová.
We feature an interview in this issue with Professor Josef Michl, acclained chemist, who received his Ph.D. at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1965 but left Czechoslovakia three years later. He became a full professor in 1975 at University of Utah. Professor Michl has held nearly one hundred visiting professorships and named lectureships, delivered hundreds of invited lectures at institutions and conferences, has served on many professional and editorial boards, advisory councils, and committees, and has organized several international meetings. Since 2006, he also has held an appointment at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR. He is a laureate of Wichterle Award, the Schrödinger and Porter Medals, the J. Heyrovský Gold Medal of the ASCR and Charles University, the Czech government Patria Award for Czech scientists working abroad, and the Marinus Smith Award from the University of Colorado for his work with undergraduates. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science and is an honorary member of the Czech Learned Society. and Sylva Daníčková.
In this issue, we feature an interview with Phillipe Lebaube, head of the CORDIS Unit of EU’s Publication, for a detailed view on its activities. CORDIS, information space devoted to European research and development and technology transfer, has been in operation for nearly two decades now. and Anna Vosečková.
The view on this topic are presented in an interview with Vladimír Nekvasil, who is the president of the Council for Support of ASCR Participation in European Integration of Research and Development. At the Institute of Physics of the ASCR, he was Chairman of the Scientific Council (1994 and 1996), Attestation Commission (1994-1997) and the Commission for the Regress of Grievances. Since 1993, he has been a member of the Academy Assembly. He is also a chairman of the Advocacy Commission of ASCR for the doctoral thesis Doctor of Science (DSc.) in the physics of condensed systems. and Marina Hužvárová.