100 Notable alumni of
Charles University
Updated:
Charles University is 39th in the world, 15th in Europe, and 1st in the Czech Republic by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Charles University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Nikola Tesla
- Occupations
- inventorphysicistfuturistelectrical engineerelectrician
- Biography
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Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
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Ivana Trump
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1967-1971 studied sports science
- Occupations
- entrepreneurnovelistmodelskierdesigner
- Biography
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Ivana Marie Trump was a Czech-American businesswoman, socialite, and model. She lived in Canada in the 1970s, before relocating to the United States and marrying Donald Trump in 1977. She held key managerial positions in the Trump Organization, as vice president of interior design, CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and manager of the Plaza Hotel.
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Franz Kafka
- Occupations
- short story writerfabulistlawyerdiaristclaims adjuster
- Biography
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Franz Kafka was a Jewish Austrian-Czech novelist and writer from Prague who wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, and typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis (1915) and the novels The Trial (1924) and The Castle (1926). The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
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Charles I of Austria
- Occupations
- monarchpoliticianmilitary officer
- Biography
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Charles I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916 until the monarchy was abolished in November 1918. He was the last of the monarchs belonging to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine to rule over Austria-Hungary. The son of Archduke Otto of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony, Charles became heir presumptive of Emperor Franz Joseph when his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914. In 1911, he married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
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Jan Hus
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1393 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- translatortheologianpastorphilosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jan Hus, sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as Iohannes Hus or Johannes Huss, was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspiration of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism, and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. Hus is considered to be the first Church reformer, even though some designate the theorist John Wycliffe. His teachings had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther.
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Milan Kundera
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1948-1949
- Occupations
- dramaturgeuniversity teachernovelistwritertranslator
- Biography
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Milan Kundera was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.
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Jan Palach
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1968-1969 studied study of history and political economy
- Occupations
- university student
- Biography
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Jan Palach was a Czech student of history and political economics at Charles University in Prague. His self-immolation in 1969 at age 20 was a political protest against the end of the Prague Spring resulting from the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 by the Warsaw Pact armies.
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Edvard Beneš
- Occupations
- association football playerpoliticiandiplomatlecturersociologist
- Biography
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Edvard Beneš was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during World War II.
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Christoph Willibald von Gluck
- Occupations
- composerconductor
- Biography
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Christoph Willibald Gluck was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both at the time part of the Holy Roman Empire, he gained prominence at the Habsburg court at Vienna. There he brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices for which many intellectuals had been campaigning. With a series of radical new works in the 1760s, among them Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste, he broke the stranglehold that Metastasian opera seria had enjoyed for much of the century. Gluck introduced more drama by using orchestral recitative and cutting the usually long da capo aria. His later operas have half the length of a typical baroque opera.
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Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia
- Biography
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Wenceslaus IV, also known as Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, was King of Bohemia from 1378 until his death and King of Germany from 1376 until he was deposed in 1400. As he belonged to the House of Luxembourg, he was also Duke of Luxembourg from 1383 to 1388.
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John of Nepomuk
- Occupations
- Catholic priest
- Biography
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John of Nepomuk was a saint of Bohemia (Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the basis of this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning.
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Milada Horáková
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Milada Horáková was a Czech politician and a member of the underground resistance movement during World War II. She was a victim of judicial murder, convicted and executed by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia on fabricated charges of conspiracy and treason. Many prominent figures in the West, including Albert Einstein, Vincent Auriol, Eleanor Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, petitioned for her life.
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Andreas Scheuer
- Occupations
- politicianminister
- Biography
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Andreas Franz Scheuer is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) party. From 2018 to 2021, he was Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in the Cabinet Merkel IV. From 2013 to 2018, he was Secretary General of the CSU. From 2009 to 2013, he was Parliamentary Secretary of State in the former Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development in the Cabinet Merkel II. He was member of the German Bundestag from 2002 until 2024. In 2016, he was also elected district chairman of CSU Lower Bavaria, an office he held until 2023.
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Bohumil Hrabal
- Occupations
- poet lawyerpoetscreenwriterwriterprose writer
- Biography
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Bohumil Hrabal was a Czech writer, often named among the best Czech writers of the 20th century.
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Petr Fiala
- Occupations
- political scientistediting staffpoliticianhistorianpedagogue
- Biography
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Petr Fiala is a Czech politician and political scientist who has been the prime minister of the Czech Republic since December 2021 and leader of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) since 2014. He previously served as the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports from 2012 to 2013. Prior to entering politics, he was the rector of Masaryk University.
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Milan Rastislav Štefánik
- Occupations
- aircraft pilotpoliticianastronomerarmy officerphotographer
- Biography
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Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovak politician, diplomat, aviator and astronomer. During World War I, he served at the same time as a general in the French Army and as Minister of War for Czechoslovakia. As one of the leading members of the Czechoslovak National Council (the resistance government), he contributed decisively to the cause of Czechoslovak sovereignty, since the status of Czech- and Slovak-populated territories was one of those in question until shortly before the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1918.
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Emil Hácha
- Occupations
- judgepoliticianjuristpoetlawyer
- Biography
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Emil Dominik Josef Hácha was a Czech lawyer, the president of Czechoslovakia from November 1938 to March 1939. In March 1939, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Hácha was the nominal president of the newly proclaimed German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
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Max Brod
- Occupations
- biographerplaywrightcomposerlinguistopinion journalist
- Biography
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Max Brod was a Bohemian-born Israeli author, composer, and journalist.
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Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1656-1660
- Occupations
- monarch
- Biography
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Michael I was the ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 29 September 1669 until his death in 1673.
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Stanislav Grof
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1956 graduated with Doctor of Medicine in medicine
- Occupations
- psychologistacademicuniversity teacherpsychiatristwriter
- Biography
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Stanislav "Stan" Grof is a Czech born American psychiatrist. Grof is one of the principal developers of transpersonal psychology and research into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of psychological healing, deep self-exploration, and obtaining growth and insights into the human psyche.
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Jan Werich
- Occupations
- translatorscreenwriterjazz musicianactorstage actor
- Biography
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Jan Werich was a Czech actor, playwright and writer.
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Hans Selye
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1929 studied medicine
- Occupations
- physiologistphysicianuniversity teacherendocrinologistpsychologist
- Biography
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János Hugo Bruno "Hans" Selye CC was a pioneering Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist who conducted important scientific work on the hypothetical non-specific response of an organism to stressors. Although he did not recognize all of the many aspects of glucocorticoids, Selye was aware of their role in the stress response.
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Karel Havlíček Borovský
- Occupations
- publisherpoliticianliterary criticjournalistopinion journalist
- Biography
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Karel Havlíček Borovský was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher.
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Carl Menger
- Occupations
- professoreconomist
- Biography
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Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün was an Austrian economist who contributed to the marginal theory of value. Menger is considered the founder of the Austrian school of economics.
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Zdeněk Svěrák
- Occupations
- writerlyricistactorstage actorpoet
- Biography
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Zdeněk Svěrák is a Czech actor, humorist, playwright and scriptwriter, and one of the most well-known and popular Czech cultural personalities. Since 1968 he has appeared in 32 films.
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Karel Hynek Mácha
- Occupations
- visual artistpoetprose writerwriterplaywright
- Biography
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Karel Hynek Mácha was a Czech romantic poet.
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Karel Jaromír Erben
- Occupations
- ethnographercollector of fairy talesmusicologistjournalistprose writer
- Biography
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Karel Jaromír Erben was a Czech folklorist and poet of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice, which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes.
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Věra Jourová
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Věra Jourová is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency from 2019 to 2024 and as the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality from 2014 to 2019. She served as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies between 2013 and 2014 and as the Czech Minister for Regional Development in 2014.
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Max Wertheimer
- Occupations
- psychologistuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Max Wertheimer was a psychologist who was one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology, along with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler. He is known for his book, Productive Thinking, and for conceiving the phi phenomenon as part of his work in Gestalt psychology.
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Jan Evangelista Purkyně
- Occupations
- naturalistanatomistphilosopherneurologistbiologist
- Biography
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Jan Evangelista Purkyně was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. In 1839, he coined the term "protoplasma" for the fluid substance of a cell. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. Such was his fame that when people from outside Europe wrote letters to him, all that they needed to put as the address was "Purkyně, Europe".
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Markéta Pekarová Adamová
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 2005-2008 graduated with bachelor's degree in andragogy
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Markéta Pekarová Adamová is a Czech politician who is the President of the Chamber of Deputies since 2021 and leader of TOP 09 since 2019. She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2013.
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Lucie Vondráčková
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied culturology
- Occupations
- musicianchild actoractorsinger
- Biography
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Lucie Vondráčková is a prominent Czech actress and pop singer, renowned for her significant influence on popular culture and her widespread appeal.
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Ivan Bartoš
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied library science and information science
- Occupations
- politicianmusiciancomputer scientistminister
- Biography
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Ivan Bartoš is a Czech civil rights activist and politician for the Czech Pirate Party, who served as the Minister of Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the Cabinet of Petr Fiala from December 2021 to September 2024. He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic since October 2017, and was chairman of the Pirate Party from 2009 to 2014, and again from 2016 to 2024.
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Bernard Bolzano
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1796-1819
- Occupations
- philosopherepistemologisthistorianprofessorphilosopher of science
- Biography
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Bernard Bolzano was a Bohemian mathematician, logician, philosopher, theologian and Catholic priest of Italian extraction, also known for his liberal views.
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Alois Jirásek
- Occupations
- pedagoguepoliticianwriterhistorianplaywright
- Biography
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Alois Jirásek was a Czech writer, author of historical novels and plays. Jirásek was a high school history teacher in Litomyšl and later in Prague until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice. He was close to many important Czech personalities like Mikoláš Aleš, Josef Václav Sládek, Karel Václav Rais or Zdeněk Nejedlý. He attended an art club in Union Cafe with them. He worked as an editor in Zvon magazine and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1918, 1919, 1921 and 1930.
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George Voskovec
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriterplaywrightfilm actorvisual artist
- Biography
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Jiří Voskovec, known in the United States as George Voskovec, was a Czech-American actor. Throughout much of his career, he was associated with actor and playwright Jan Werich. In the U.S., he is known for his role as the polite Juror #11 in the 1957 film 12 Angry Men.
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Adam Vojtěch
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 2006-2009 graduated with bachelor's degree in media studies
- 2006-2012 graduated with magister degree in law
- 2011-2013 graduated with master's degree in media studies
- Occupations
- politicianmusiciansingerjuristlawyer
- Biography
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Adam Vojtěch is a Czech politician and lawyer who served as Minister of Health from 13 December 2017 to 21 September 2020, in both the first and second cabinets of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and then for a second time from May until December 2021. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2017 until 2021.
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Stanislav Gross
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1993-1999
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Stanislav Gross was a Czech lawyer and politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party from 2004 until 2005 when he resigned as a result of his financial irregularities. He previously served as minister of the Interior in cabinets of Miloš Zeman and Vladimír Špidla from 2000 to 2004. Gross was Member of the Chamber of Deputies (MP) from 1992 to 2004.
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Vaclav Smil
- Occupations
- geographerteacherscience communicatoruniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
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Vaclav Smil is a Czech-Canadian scientist and policy analyst. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies. He has also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.
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Josef Kajetán Tyl
- Occupations
- politicianwriterdramaturgeplaywrightcritic
- Biography
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Josef Kajetán Tyl was a significant Czech dramatist, writer, and actor. He was a notable figure in the Czech National Revival movement and is best known as the author of the current national anthem of the Czech Republic titled Kde domov můj?.
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Viktor Dyk
- Occupations
- translatorchess playerprose writerpoetjournalist
- Biography
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Viktor Dyk was a nationalist Czech poet, prose writer, playwright, politician and political writer. He was sent to jail during the First World War for opposing the Austro-Hungarian empire. He was one of the signatories of the Manifesto of Czech writers. Dyk co-founded a political party and entered politics. He died at age 53, leaving his many poems, plays and writings.
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Alois Rašín
- Occupations
- politicianjournalisteconomistjuristlawyer
- Biography
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Alois Rašín was a Czech and Czechoslovakian politician, economist, one of the founders of Czechoslovakia and first Ministry for Finance. He was the author of the first law of Czechoslovakia and creator of the country's currency, the Czechoslovak koruna. Rašín was a representative of conservative liberalism and was mortally wounded in assassination for being viewed as a head of the nation's capitalism.
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Josef Dobrovský
- Occupations
- slavistcriticlexicographerphilologisttextologist
- Biography
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Josef Dobrovský was a Czech philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann.
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Jan Patočka
- Occupations
- opinion journalistpedagoguewritertranslatoraesthetician
- Biography
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Jan Patočka was a Czech philosopher. Having studied in Prague, Paris, Berlin, and Freiburg, he was one of the last pupils of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. In Freiburg he also developed a lifelong philosophical friendship with Husserl's assistant Eugen Fink. Patočka worked in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic for almost his entire career, but never joined the Communist Party and was affected by persecution, which ended in his death as a dissident spokesperson of Charter 77.
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Jaroslav Vrchlický
- Occupations
- poetteacherlibrettistliterary criticjournalist
- Biography
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Jaroslav Vrchlický was a Czech lyrical poet. He was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature eight times.
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Oleh Olzhych
- Occupations
- translatorwriterarchaeologistpolitical activistprehistorian
- Biography
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Oleh Oleksandrovych Kandyba, better known his pen name of Oleh Olzhych (Олег Ольжич), was a Ukrainian poet and political activist. He was forced to emigrate from Ukraine in 1923 due to occupation by the Soviet Russia and lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He graduated in 1929 from Charles University with a degree in archaeology. In 1929 he joined the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and became head of their cultural and educational branch.
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Lubomír Štrougal
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Graduated with Doctor of Laws
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Lubomír Štrougal was a Czech politician who was the prime minister of Czechoslovakia from 1970 to 1988.
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Jiří Wolker
- Occupations
- playwrightliterary criticjournalisttheatre criticwriter
- Biography
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Jiří Wolker was a Czech poet, journalist and playwright. He was one of the founding members of KSČ - Communist Party of Czechoslovakia - in 1921.
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Karel Janeček
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied probability theory and mathematical statistics
- Occupations
- mathematicianeconomistentrepreneurteacher
- Biography
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Karel Janeček is a Czech mathematician, entrepreneur, anti-corruption campaigner, creator of the D21 – Janeček method voting system and the online game Prezident 21.
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Pavel Fischer
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomatambassador
- Biography
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Pavel Fischer is a Czech politician and diplomat who has been Senator from Prague 12 since 2018. Fischer previously served as Czech Ambassador to France from 2003 to 2010. He was a presidential candidate in 2018, when he finished third with 10.23% of the vote, and in 2023, when he finished fourth with 6.75% of the vote. He was elected to the Czech Senate in 2018.
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Johann Stamitz
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied philosophy
- Occupations
- composerviolinistconductorphilosophermusicologist
- Biography
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Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz was a Bohemian composer and violinist. His two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, were composers of the Mannheim school, of which Johann is considered the founding father. His music is stylistically transitional between the Baroque and Classical periods.
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Pál Maléter
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied medicine
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary officer
- Biography
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Pál Maléter was the military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
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John Neumann
- Occupations
- Catholic priestCatholic bishop
- Biography
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John Nepomucene Neumann CSsR was a Bohemian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church.
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Jaroslav Heyrovský
- Occupations
- inventorchemistscientistteacherphysicist
- Biography
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Jaroslav Heyrovský was a Czech chemist and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1959 for his invention of polarography.
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Karel Poláček
- Occupations
- film screenwriterediting staffscreenwriterwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Karel Poláček was a Czech writer, humorist and journalist of Jewish descent.
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Josef Škvorecký
- Occupations
- publisherliterary criticlinguistwritertranslator
- Biography
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Josef Škvorecký CM was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. He spent half of his life in Canada, publishing and supporting banned Czech literature during the communist era. Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country. Škvorecký's fiction deals with several themes: the horrors of totalitarianism and repression, the expatriate experience, and the miracle of jazz.
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Zdeněk Hřib
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1999-2006 graduated with Doctor of Medicine
- Occupations
- politicianmanagerphysician
- Biography
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Zdeněk Hřib is a Czech healthcare manager and politician, who has served as chair of the Czech Pirate Party since November 2024, and served as the Mayor of Prague from November 2018 to February 2023.
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Jan Hamáček
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1997-2001 studied economics and translator-interpreter
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jan Hamáček is a Czech politician who was leader of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) from February 2018 until October 2021, and minister of the Interior from June 2018 to December 2021. He also served as the President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2013 to 2017, and was acting minister of Foreign Affairs from June to October 2018 and from 12 to 21 April 2021. Hamáček was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2006 to 2021.
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Marek Hilšer
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied international relations
- Occupations
- activistphysicianscientistteacherpolitician
- Biography
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Marek Hilšer is a Czech politician and university lecturer who has been serving as the senator for Prague 2 since 2018. He also stood in the 2018 and 2023 Czech presidential elections.
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Vilém Flusser
- Occupations
- photographerjournalistwriterart historianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vilém Flusser was a Czech-born Brazilian philosopher, writer and journalist. He lived for a long period in São Paulo (where he became a Brazilian citizen) and later in France, and his works are written in many different languages.
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Roman Prymula
- Occupations
- chess playerpoliticianphysicianpedagogue
- Biography
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Roman Prymula is a Czech physician, professor of epidemiology, and a retired army colonel.
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Karel Kramář
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Karel Kramář was a Czech politician. He was a representative of the major Czech political party, the Young Czechs, in the Austrian Imperial Council from 1891 to 1915 (where he was also known as Karl Kramarsch), becoming the party leader in 1897.
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Vladimír Franz
- Occupations
- politicianart historianpedagoguecomposeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Vladimír Franz, is a Czech composer, painter, university scholar and occasional journalist, poet and playwright. Since mid-1980s he has composed stage music for more than 150 theatre performances—for many of them he was awarded national-level prizes—he has also composed a symphony, several operas, oratorios, a musical, ballet, as well as film music and music for documentaries and radio plays. His second main area of activities in the field of arts is represented by painting. Since 1991 he has been a lecturer at the Prague's Faculty of Theatre. In 2012 he was also a registered candidate in the 2013 Czech presidential election. The attention of local as well as world media has been attracted to him usually due to his extraordinarily extensive tattoos.
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Zuzana Navarová
- Occupations
- film score composercomposersongwritersinger
- Biography
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Zuzana Navarová de Tejada was a Czech singer and songwriter. She began her career in the early 1980s as a member of Nerez, and gradually become one of the most significant personalities of the Czech folk and world music scene. Her style was partially inspired by Latin American music.
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Jerome of Prague
- Occupations
- theologianphilosopher
- Biography
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Jerome of Prague was a Czech scholastic philosopher and theologian. Jerome was one of the chief followers of Jan Hus and was burned for heresy at the Council of Constance.
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Josef Jungmann
- Occupations
- pedagogueuniversity teacherwriterhistorianphilologist
- Biography
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Josef Jungmann was a Czech poet and linguist, and a leading figure of the Czech National Revival. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the modern Czech language. The literary award for the best translation into Czech is named after him.
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Jan Kodeš
- Occupations
- tennis coachtennis player
- Biography
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Jan Kodeš is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s.
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Misha Glenny
- Occupations
- writerjournalisthistorian
- Biography
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Michael V. E. "Misha" Glenny is a British journalist and broadcaster, specialising in southeast Europe, global organised crime, and cybersecurity. He has been Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM, Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen) in Vienna, Austria since 2022.
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Tomáš Halík
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1966-1971 studied philosophy and sociology
- Occupations
- philosopherwriterpedagogueteacherCatholic priest
- Biography
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Tomáš Halík is a Czech Catholic priest, philosopher, and theologian. He is a professor of sociology at the Charles University in Prague, pastor of the Academic Parish by St. Salvator Church in Prague, and president of the Czech Christian Academy.
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Jan Baudouin de Courtenay
- Occupations
- slavistlinguistesperantologistprofessorphonetician
- Biography
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Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay, was a Polish linguist and Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and phonetic alternations.
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Jiří Macháček
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorsingerscreenwritersongwriter
- Biography
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Jiří Macháček is a Czech actor and singer.
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David Švehlík
- Occupations
- actorchild actortelevision actor
- Biography
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David Švehlík is a Czech actor.
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Jiří Ovčáček
- Years
- 1979-.. (age 46)
- Occupations
- journalistspokesperson
- Biography
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Jiří Ovčáček is a Czech journalist and news columnist. He previously worked as the spokesman for Miloš Zeman during Zeman's presidency.
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Matěj Stropnický
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied area studies, journalism, and media studies
- Occupations
- politicianwriterjournalistactor
- Biography
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Matěj Stropnický is a Czech left-wing politician, journalist, actor and former leader of the Green party. His father is Martin Stropnický, actor and former Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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Michal Horáček
- Occupations
- poetwriterentrepreneurjournalistlyricist
- Biography
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Michal Horáček is a Czech entrepreneur, lyricist, poet, writer, journalist and music producer. From 2007 until 2010, he was the chairman of the Czech Academy of Popular Music. He founded Czech betting company Fortuna. He stood to become Czech president in the 2018 presidential election, but came in 4th in the first round, failing to advance.
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Michal Viewegh
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1988 studied Czech studies and pedagogy
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Michal Viewegh is one of the most popular contemporary Czech writers.
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Jan Lipavský
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 2010
- Occupations
- politicianmanagerforeign minister
- Biography
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Jan Lipavský is a Czech politician and information technology manager who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since December 2021, in the Cabinet of Petr Fiala. A former member of the Czech Pirate Party, he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from October 2017 to October 2021.
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Karel Janoušek
- Occupations
- editing staffmilitary personnelfighter pilotnon-fiction writeraircraft pilot
- Biography
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Karel Janoušek, KCB was a senior Czechoslovak Air Force officer. He began his career as a soldier, serving in the Austrian Imperial-Royal Landwehr 1915–16, Czechoslovak Legion 1916–20 and Czechoslovak Army 1920–24.
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Andrija Mohorovičić
- Occupations
- geophysicistseismologistuniversity teachermeteorologistgeologist
- Biography
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Andrija Mohorovičić was a Croatian geophysicist. He is best known for the eponymous Mohorovičić discontinuity and is considered one of the founders of modern seismology.
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Petr Kolář
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied ethnography and folkloristics
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Petr Kolář is a Czech politician and diplomat, who has served as the Czech ambassador to several countries, including Russia (2010-2012) and the United States (2005-2010).
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Pavel Kohout
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied theatre studies, comparative literature, and aesthetics
- Occupations
- screenwriterplaywrightjournalistdirectorwriter
- Biography
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Pavel Kohout is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring participant and dissident in the 1970s until he was not allowed to return from Austria. He was a founding member of the Charter 77 movement.
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Karl Koecher
- Occupations
- spytranslator
- Biography
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Karl František Koecher is a Czech mole known to have penetrated the CIA during the Cold War.
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Janek Ledecký
- Occupations
- composersinger
- Biography
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Jan Ledecký, better known as Janek Ledecký, is a Czech singer, songwriter, guitarist, and composer born in Prague. After graduating from Karla Sladkovského high school, he attended the law faculty of Charles University in Prague, earning a degree in law. Since 1981, he has played in the multiple award-winning rock band Žentour as lead vocalist and guitarist. In 1992, he launched a solo career, which he maintains to this day, having released over a dozen successful albums. He has also written and performed in several musicals, including Galileo, Hamlet, and Iago.
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František Kriegel
- Occupations
- politicianphysician
- Biography
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František Kriegel was a Czechoslovak politician, physician, and a member of the Communist Party reform wing of the Prague Spring (1968). He was the only one of the political leaders who, during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, declined to sign the Moscow Protocol.
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Ivan Olbracht
- Occupations
- translatorjournalistchildren's writerwriterfilm screenwriter
- Biography
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Ivan Olbracht, born Kamil Zeman, was a Czech censor, writer, journalist and translator of German prose.
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Jiří Šlitr
- Occupations
- composerscreenwriteractorstage actorgraphic artist
- Biography
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Jiří Šlitr was a Czech songwriter, pianist, singer, actor and painter. Together with Jiří Suchý he significantly influenced Czech pop music and theatre in the 1960s.
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Jaroslav Bašta
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1967-1970 studied medieval archaeology
- Occupations
- politicianarchaeologistdiplomat
- Biography
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Jaroslav Bašta was a Czech politician and diplomat. He was a signatory of Charter 77. Between 1998 and 2000 he served in the cabinet of Miloš Zeman as Minister without portfolio. Bašta became the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Russia in September 2000. He served for five years in Russia, later becoming Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ukraine, where he worked for three years until stepping down for health reasons in 2010.
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Ladislav Fuks
- Occupations
- screenwriterwriterscience fiction writerplaywright
- Biography
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Ladislav Fuks was a Czech novelist. He focused mainly on psychological novels, portraying the despair and suffering of people under German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
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Eduard Hanslick
- Occupations
- opinion journalistmusic criticcomposerwriteraesthetician
- Biography
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Eduard Hanslick was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the Neue Freie Presse from 1864 until the end of his life. His best known work, the 1854 treatise Vom Musikalisch-Schönen (On the Musically Beautiful), was a landmark in the aesthetics of music and outlines much of his artistic and philosophical beliefs on music.
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Michal Šimečka
- Occupations
- politicianjournalistpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Michal Šimečka is a Slovak politician, journalist, and researcher, who served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament between 2022 and 2023. He also became a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2023. In 2020, Šimečka was elected vice-president of the European political group Renew Europe. He is a co-founder of the social-liberal Progressive Slovakia party, leading it from 2022.
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Jan Janský
- Occupations
- neurologistphysicianpsychiatrist
- Biography
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Jan Janský was a Czech serologist, neurologist and psychiatrist. He is credited with the classification of blood into four types (I, II, III, IV).
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Petr Pithart
- Occupations
- opinion journalistpoliticianpedagoguepolitical scientistjurist
- Biography
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Petr Pithart is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (then a federal region of Czechoslovakia) from 6 February 1990 to 2 July 1992. He was also the Senator for Chrudim from 1996 to 2012 and served as President of the Senate from 8 January 1996 to 16 December 1998 and again from 19 December 2000 to 15 December 2004.
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Alice Masaryková
- Occupations
- politicianwritertranslatorsociologist
- Biography
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Alice Masaryková or Alice Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech teacher, sociologist and politician. She is a prominent figure within the field of applied sociology and known to many as the daughter of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the First Lady of Czechoslovakia.
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Olga Richterová
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied translator-interpreter
- Occupations
- translatorpoliticianlinguist
- Biography
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Olga Richterová is a Czech linguist and politician. She was the vice-chairwoman of the Czech Pirate Party from January 2018 to January 2022 and is a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic since the 2017 legislative election. Richterová was re-elected in the October 2021 Czech legislative election on a joint list of the Pirates and Mayors electoral alliance and became a vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies.
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František Hrubín
- Occupations
- editorscreenwriterplaywrightwritertranslator
- Biography
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František Hrubín was a Czech poet and writer.
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Vladimír Špidla
- Occupations
- politicianarchaeologisthistorian
- Biography
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Vladimír Špidla is a Czech politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from July 2002 to August 2004 and as European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities from November 2004 to February 2010. He also served as chief adviser to Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka from 2014 to 2017.
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Vladimír Clementis
- Occupations
- politicianwriterjuristdiplomat
- Biography
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Vladimír "Vlado" Clementis was a Slovak politician, lawyer, publicist, literary critic, author and a prominent member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. Between 1948 and 1950, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechoslovakia. In 1952, he was accused of "Titoism" and "national deviation" during the Slánský trial and executed.
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Karel Diviš
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Karel Diviš is a Czech entrepreneur in information technology. He was a candidate in the 2023 Czech presidential election, finishing seventh in the first round vote.
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Ferdinand Blumentritt
- Occupations
- ethnographerpedagoguegeographerwriteranthropologist
- Biography
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Ferdinand Johann Franz Blumentritt was an Austrian teacher, secondary school principal in Leitmeritz, lecturer, and author of articles and books about the Philippines and its ethnography. He is well known in the Philippines for his close friendship with the writer and Propagandist José Rizal, and the numerous correspondence between the two provide a vital reference for historians and scholars studying Rizal, including his last letter from prison before the execution.
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Martin Kukučín
- Occupations
- physicianwriterplaywrightphysician writer
- Biography
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Martin Kukučín was a Slovak prose writer, dramatist and publicist. He was the most notable representative of Slovak literary realism, and is considered one of the founders of modern Slovak prose.
