100 Notable alumni of
Charles University
Updated:
Charles University is 43rd 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
- physicistelectrical engineerinventormechanical engineerfuturist
- Biography
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Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist. He is best 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
- writerdesignerskiermodelnovelist
- 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, as CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and as manager of the Plaza Hotel.
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Franz Kafka
- Occupations
- screenwritertranslatorwriterpoet lawyerclaims adjuster
- Biography
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Franz Kafka was a German-speaking Bohemian Jewish novelist and short-story writer based in Prague, who is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It 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 and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
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Karl I of Austria
- Occupations
- politicianmonarchmilitary officer
- Biography
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Charles I or Karl I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV, Hungarian: IV. Károly), King of Croatia, King of Bohemia (as Charles III, Czech: Karel III.), and 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. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 October 2004, and is known to the Catholic Church as Blessed Karl of Austria.
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Jan Hus
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1393 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- pastortranslatorpedagoguelinguistwriter
- 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
- university teachernovelistplaywrightwriterscreenwriter
- 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 political economy and study of history
- 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 was a political protest against the end of the Prague Spring resulting from the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact armies.
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Edvard Beneš
- Occupations
- sociologistlecturerdiplomatpoliticianassociation football player
- 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
- conductorcomposer
- Biography
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Christoph Willibald Gluck ( German: [ˈkʁɪstɔf ˈvɪlɪbalt ˈɡlʊk]; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both 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. Future composers like Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz and Wagner revered Gluck.
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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 the 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
- politicianjurist
- 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
- ministerpolitician
- 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 has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2002. In 2016, he was also elected district chairman of CSU Lower Bavaria.
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Bohumil Hrabal
- Occupations
- prose writerwriterscreenwriterpoetpoet lawyer
- 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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Milan Rastislav Štefánik
- Occupations
- photographerarmy officerastronomerpoliticianaircraft pilot
- 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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Petr Fiala
- Occupations
- pedagoguepoliticianpolitical scientist
- 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 November 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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Emil Hácha
- Occupations
- translatorlawyerpoetjuristpolitician
- 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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Stanislav Grof
- Enrolled in Charles University
- In 1956 graduated with Doctor of Medicine in medicine
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphysicianpsychologistpsychiatrist
- Biography
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Stanislav "Stan" Grof is a Czech-born psychiatrist who has been living in the United States since the 1960s. 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. In 1993, Grof received an Honorary Award from the Association for Transpersonal Psychology for major contributions to and development of the field of transpersonal psychology, given at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Convocation held in Asilomar, California. He also received the VISION 97 award granted by the Foundation of Dagmar and Václav Havel in Prague on October 5, 2007. In 2010, he received the Thomas R. Verny Award from the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH). On the other hand, Grof has been criticized by the skeptic group Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos in the Czech Republic for furthering what they view as nonscientific psychology too far outside the bounds of the materialistic philosophical underpinnings of modern science. He is the only person to have been awarded the anti-prize Erratic Boulder Award twice in that country. Grof was married to psychologist Brigitte Grof in 2016.
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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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Jan Werich
- Occupations
- television actordirectorstage actoractorjazz musician
- 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
- endocrinologistuniversity teacherphysicianphysiologistpsychologist
- 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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Carl Menger
- Occupations
- economistprofessor
- Biography
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Carl Menger von Wolfensgrün was an Austrian economist and the founder of the Austrian School of economics. Menger contributed to the development of the theories of marginalism and marginal utility, which rejected cost-of-production theory of value, such as developed by the classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo. As a departure from such, he would go on to call his resultant perspective, the subjective theory of value.
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Karel Havlíček Borovský
- Occupations
- translatorwriteropinion journalistjournalistliterary critic
- Biography
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Karel Havlíček Borovský was a Czech writer, poet, critic, politician, journalist, and publisher.
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Zdeněk Svěrák
- Occupations
- teacherpoetstage actoractorlyricist
- 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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Max Brod
- Occupations
- officiallyricistmusiciantranslatorwriter
- Biography
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Max Brod was a Bohemian-born Israeli author, composer, and journalist.
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Karel Hynek Mácha
- Occupations
- writerprose writerpoetvisual artistplaywright
- Biography
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Karel Hynek Mácha was a Czech romantic poet.
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Karel Jaromír Erben
- Occupations
- historianarchivistprose writerjournalistmusicologist
- 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
- politicianinternational forum participantjurist
- Biography
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Věra Jourová is a Czech politician and lawyer who has been the Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency since 1 December 2019 and previously served 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
- university teacherpsychologistphilosopher
- 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
- university teacherbotanistpoliticianphysiologistphysician
- 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.
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Lucie Vondráčková
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied culturology
- Occupations
- child actormusiciansingeractor
- Biography
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Lucie Vondráčková is a Czech popular singer and theatre and film actress. She has won a number of awards, including the Best Actress award at the 2020 Prague Independent Film Festival for her role in Beyond her Lens.
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Dominik Feri
- Occupations
- council memberpolitician
- Biography
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Dominik Feri is a Czech former politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2017 to 2021. Elected at the age of 21 years old, he was the youngest member of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the first Black representative. In 2019, Feri was named one of Politico 28 list of people who are most likely to shape the European future.
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Ivan Bartoš
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied information science and library science
- Occupations
- computer scientistpoliticiansoftware architectmusicianminister
- Biography
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Ivan Bartoš is a Czech civil rights activist and a Czech Pirate Party politician, serving as the Minister of Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the governing Cabinet of Petr Fiala since December 2021. He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic since October 2017, and the chairman of the party since 2016, as well as previously between 2009 and 2014.
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Bernard Bolzano
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1796-1819
- Occupations
- aestheticianCatholic priestmathematiciantheologianphilosopher 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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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
- health ministerlawyerjuristsingermusician
- 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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Alois Jirásek
- Occupations
- historianwriterpoliticianpedagogueplaywright
- 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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Jiří Voskovec
- Occupations
- editing stafftranslatordirectorpoetvisual artist
- Biography
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Jiří Voskovec, born Jiří Wachsmann and known in the United States as George Voskovec (June 19, 1905 – July 1, 1981) was a Czech actor, writer, dramatist, and director who became an American citizen in 1955. Throughout much of his career he was associated with actor and playwright Jan Werich. In the U.S., he is best known for his role as the polite Juror #11 in the 1957 film 12 Angry Men.
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Stanislav Gross
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 1993-1999
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- 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
- university teachereconomistinternational forum participantscientistscience communicator
- 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
- theatrical directortheatre critictranslatordirectorpoet
- 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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Alois Rašín
- Occupations
- writerlawyerjuristeconomistjournalist
- 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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Viktor Dyk
- Occupations
- opinion journalistliterary critictheatre criticjournalistpoet
- 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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Josef Dobrovský
- Occupations
- lexicographerwriterphilologisthistorianpresbyter
- 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
- university teacherteacherpedagoguewriterphilosopher
- 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
- university teacherpoliticianplaywrightpedagoguelinguist
- 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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Karel Janeček
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied mathematical statistics and probability theory
- Occupations
- economistmathematician
- 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
- diplomatpoliticianambassador
- 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 candidate in the presidential elections of 2018, when he finished third with 10.23% of the vote, and 2023, when he finished fourth with 6.75% of the vote. He was elected to the Czech Senate in 2018.
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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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Oleh Olzhych
- Occupations
- university teacherprehistorianpolitical activistarchaeologistwriter
- Biography
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Oleh Oleksandrovych Kandyba, better known by the pen name of Oleh Olzhych (Ukrainian: 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 and became head of their cultural and educational branch.
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Johann Stamitz
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied philosophy
- Occupations
- conductorviolinistcomposermusicologistphilosopher
- 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 Baroque and Classical periods.
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Jiří Wolker
- Occupations
- prose writertranslatorwriterpoetplaywright
- 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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Marek Hilšer
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied international relations
- Occupations
- politicianteacherscientistphysicianactivist
- Biography
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Marek Hilšer is a Czech politician and university lecturer who has served as the senator for Prague 2 since 2018. He also stood in the 2018 and 2023 Czech presidential elections.
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Roman Prymula
- Occupations
- physicianpoliticianchess playerpedagogue
- Biography
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Roman Prymula is a Czech physician, professor of epidemiology, and a retired army colonel.
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Jan Hamáček
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1997-2001 studied translator-interpreter and economics
- 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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Jaroslav Heyrovský
- Occupations
- physicistteacherscientistchemistinventor
- Biography
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Jaroslav Heyrovský was a Czech chemist and inventor. Heyrovský was the inventor of the polarographic method, father of the electroanalytical method, and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1959 for his invention and development of the polarographic methods of analysis. His main field of work was polarography.
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Zdeněk Hřib
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1999-2006 graduated with Doctor of Medicine
- Occupations
- physicianmanagerpolitician
- Biography
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Zdeněk Hřib is a Czech healthcare manager and Czech Pirate Party politician who served as the Mayor of Prague from November 2018 to February 2023.
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Pál Maléter
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied medicine
- Occupations
- military officerpolitician
- Biography
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Pál Maléter was the military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
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John Neumann
- Occupations
- Catholic bishopCatholic priest
- Biography
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John Nepomucene Neumann was a Bohemian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. An immigrant from Bohemia, he came to the United States in 1836, where he was ordained, joined the Redemptorist order, and became the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. In Philadelphia, Neumann founded the first Catholic diocesan school system in the US. Canonized in 1977, he is the only male US citizen to be named a saint.
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Karel Poláček
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriterediting stafffilm screenwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Karel Poláček was a Czech writer, humorist and journalist of Jewish descent.
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Vilém Flusser
- Occupations
- university teacherart historianwriterjournalistphotographer
- Biography
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Vilém Flusser was a Brazilian Czech-born 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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Josef Škvorecký
- Occupations
- prose writertranslatorwriterlinguistliterary critic
- Biography
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Josef Škvorecký 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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Vladimír Franz
- Occupations
- university teachercomposerpedagogueart historianpolitician
- 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 tattoo.
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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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Zuzana Navarová
- Occupations
- songwritercomposerfilm score composersinger
- 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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Jiří Ovčáček
- Years
- 1979-.. (age 45)
- Occupations
- spokespersonjournalist
- 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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Jerome of Prague
- Occupations
- philosophertheologian
- 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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Misha Glenny
- Occupations
- historianjournalistwriter
- 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 is multilingual. He is also the writer and producer of the BBC Radio 4 series, How to Invent a Country.
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Josef Jungmann
- Occupations
- teacherpoetlexicographertranslatorphilologist
- 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 playertennis coach
- 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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Tomáš Halík
- Enrolled in Charles University
- 1966-1971 studied sociology and philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherCatholic priestteacherpedagoguewriter
- 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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Michal Horáček
- Occupations
- entrepreneurwriterpoetjournalistpolitician
- 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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Jan Baudouin de Courtenay
- Occupations
- phoneticianprofessoresperantologistlinguistslavist
- Biography
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Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de Courtenay, also Ivan Alexandrovich Baudouin de Courtenay was a Russian and Polish linguist and Slavist, best known for his theory of the phoneme and phonetic alternations.
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Jiří Macháček
- Occupations
- film actorscreenwriteractorsingermusician
- Biography
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Jiří Macháček is a Czech actor and singer.
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Matěj Stropnický
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied journalism, area studies, and media studies
- Occupations
- journalistwriterpoliticianactor
- 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 Viewegh
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied pedagogy and Czech studies
- Occupations
- writerjournalist
- Biography
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Michal Viewegh is one of the most popular contemporary Czech writers.
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Karel Janoušek
- Occupations
- fighter pilotmilitary personnel
- Biography
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Karel Janoušek, 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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David Švehlík
- Occupations
- child actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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David Švehlík is a Czech actor.
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Andrija Mohorovičić
- Occupations
- meteorologistuniversity teacherseismologistgeophysicistgeologist
- 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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Janek Ledecký
- Occupations
- singercomposer
- 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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Petr Kolář
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied folkloristics and ethnography
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Petr Kolář is a Czech politician. He served as ambassador to Russia from 2010 through 2012. He is currently a senior advisor to the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs in Prague.
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Pavel Kohout
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied comparative literature, theatre studies, and aesthetics
- Occupations
- playwrightwriterscreenwritertranslatordirector
- 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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Ivan Olbracht
- Occupations
- film screenwriterwriterchildren's writerjournalisttranslator
- 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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Eduard Hanslick
- Occupations
- aestheticianwritercomposermusic criticopinion journalist
- 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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Ladislav Fuks
- Occupations
- playwrightscience fiction writerwriterscreenwriter
- 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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Jaroslav Bašta
- Occupations
- diplomatarchaeologistpolitician
- Biography
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Jaroslav Bašta is a Czech politician and diplomat. He is 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 due to health reasons in 2010.
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Jiří Šlitr
- Occupations
- pianistmusicianrecording artistsongwritergraphic 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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František Kriegel
- Occupations
- physicianpolitician
- 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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Jan Janský
- Occupations
- physicianneurologistpsychiatrist
- 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
- translatorjuristpolitical scientistpedagoguepolitician
- 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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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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Alice Masaryková
- Occupations
- translatorwriterpoliticiansociologist
- 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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František Hrubín
- Occupations
- children's writercivil servanttranslatorwriterplaywright
- Biography
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František Hrubín was a Czech poet and writer.
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Jan Lipavský
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied in 2010
- Occupations
- managerpoliticianforeign minister
- Biography
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Jan Lipavský is a Czech politician and information technology manager who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic since December 2021, in the Cabinet of Petr Fiala. A member of the Czech Pirate Party, he was previously a member of the Chamber of Deputies from October 2017 to October 2021.
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Svatopluk Čech
- Occupations
- writerscience fiction writerediting staffpoetjournalist
- Biography
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Svatopluk Čech was a Czech writer, journalist and poet.
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Martin Kukučín
- Occupations
- physician writerplaywrightwriterphysician
- 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.
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Vladimír Špidla
- Occupations
- historianarchaeologistpolitician
- 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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Ferdinand Blumentritt
- Occupations
- anthropologistwritergeographerpedagogueethnographer
- 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 in 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 Rizal historians and scholars, including his last letter from prison before the execution.
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Tomáš Sedláček
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied economics
- Occupations
- teacheruniversity teachereconomistpedagoguenon-fiction writer
- Biography
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Tomas Sedlacek gained widespread international recognition for his book on philosophy and economy "Economics of Good and Evil" (Oxford University Press), which has been translated into 22 languages. Sedlacek has advised former Czech President Vaclav Havel, and has lectured at the World Economic Forum and around the world. For 16 years, he was a Chief Macroeconomic Strategist at the largest Czech bank, and has been a longstanding member of Czech National Economic Council. Tomáš Sedláček is also the author of the English-language podcast CzechMate.
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Olga Richterová
- Enrolled in Charles University
- Studied translator-interpreter
- Occupations
- linguistpoliticiantranslator
- 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.
