Study of the history of education is one of the traditional subjects of Czech historical research. In the second half of the twentieth century, Czech researchers gradually adopted new inspirations and approaches, including a broadening of the focus of their research. In this way, Czech research had transcended the traditional boundaries of the history of schooling and stepped in the direction of modern history of education. This contribution presents an outline of development of Czech research in the history of education in the past three decades with special emphasis on its regional aspect. Alongside a partial overview of existing results, the author considers the potential of this kind of research, including its possible contribution to a modern synthetic history of education in the Czech Lands which is currently being planned.

This study focuses on interpreting the relation between Enlightenment thinking in general and ‘scientific’ thought. The first part is dedicated to four ‘new’ elements which appeared on a conceptual and epistemological level. First of all, thinking in terms of systems, secondly, acknowledgement of history and development, thirdly, the notion of power, and finally, a ‘discovery’ of the phenomenon of life. The author also deals with three new phenomena which at this time appear in the social sphere. First of all, new forms of scholarly and academic sociability, secondly, industrialisation and early stages of capitalism, and finally, vernacularisation of knowledge. In the second part, the author outlines the specific features of environment in the Bohemian Lands, including factors which hampered or complicated institutionalisation of science and scientific life.

In early eighteenth century, with the arrival of the Age of Enlightenment, the Jesuit Academy in Vilnius started to introduce various reforms. Political turmoil and the need to modernise the school system led to the introduction of Modern philosophy and science into the curriculum. Special attention was paid to mathematics and natural sciences, and this held even after the abolition of the Jesuit Order. Thomas Żebrowski, a talented mathematician, astronomer, and architect, was sent to Prague to learn about new methods and achievements of astronomy and mathematics from Joseph Stepling. He studied in Prague in 1751–1752. Upon his return to Vilnius, he started to teach mathematics, founded a cabinet of physics and mathematics, and in 1753, established an observatory. He kept in touch with Joseph Stepling and consulted him on various subjects including teaching, experimentation, and construction of an astronomic observatory. Ideas he brought from Prague had formed the foundation of advancement of mathematics and astronomy at the Vilnius University, where they were further developed by his students and contributed to a high level of exact sciences, which was maintained until 1832, when the university was closed. Professor Żebrowski, whose career was short but productive, left behind an almost finished astronomical observatory, a modern museum of mathematics, and a legacy of public scientific activities. He is also considered one of the most important late Baroque architects in Lithuania. The university preserves Żebrowski’s legacy. His former observatory now houses a museum of astronomical instruments, his books are kept in the university library, and his contribution to architecture is a subject of study.

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This contribution presents and briefly comments upon several period documents which bring up and discuss the issue of possible return to Czechoslovakia of several physicists of German nationality, namely Philipp Frank, Reinhold Fürth, Georg Placzek, Marcel Schein, and Kurt Sitte. These documents also deal with the issue of their potential position at post-war Czechoslovak universities and possibility of lecturing.

This article explains the circumstances under which Wolfgang Wolfram von Wolmar, a prominent representative of the Nazi regime, received a doctorate at the German University in Prague. The rigorosum proceedings were nonstandard not only due to their subject’s political engagement but also because von Wolmar had never attended the German University Prague and his dissertation theses consisted of an already completed book on the history of the Prague University (Prag und das Reich. 600 Jahre Kampf deutscher Studenten), which failed to meet some of the basic requirements placed on a doctoral thesis. The article includes an edition of a substantial part of the rigorosum thesis.

During a period spanning from the Josephinian reforms until 1848, the Prague University was supposed to use a certain prescribed set of textbooks. Any deviation from them required a special permission. The author presents a list of textbooks used at the Faculty of Medicine between 1802 and the revolutionary year 1848, which among other things won for teachers the opportunity of using in lectures texts of their own choice, without any need for a prior permission. The list of textbooks includes the territorial origin of their authors and, where possible, also some evaluation of their academic quality.

Elisabeth Tuisl, Die Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Wien im Mittelalter. Von der Gründung der Universität 1365 bis zum Tod Kaiser Maximilians I. 1519. V&R unipress, Vienna University Press, Göttingen 2014, 366 s., 13 čb vyobrazení, ISBN 978-3-8471-0330-1 a 978-3-8470-0330-4 (e-book)

V z roku 2017 se ve zrekonstruovanch prostorch Schwarzenberskho slu teboskho zmku uskutenila tdenn odborn konference Digitalizace v pamovch institucch

Book review: Jan Harasimowicz, 2. Księga pamiątkowa jubileuszu 200-lecia utworzenia Państwowego Uniwersytetu we Wrocławiu. Universitas litterarum Wratislaviensis 1811–1945. Wrocław 2013, 694 s., ISBN 978-83-229-3331-2