Jan Karel Bechyně was born into the family of photographer Jan Bechyně; his uncle was the famous architect Stanislav Bechyně, who was, amongst other things, the first designer of Nusle Bridge in Prague. Jan Karel Bechyně studied at the grammar schools in Havlíčkův Brod and in Moravské Budějovice. Due to World War II he was unable to enrol at university and was assigned to forced labour in the starch factory in Ronov nad Sázavou. However, he devoted his spare time to his greatest hobby, studying insects, and secretly collaborated with the entomological department of the National Museum. After the war he immediately enrolled to study the natural sciences in Prague and graduated in 1948. He soon received an offer of work abroad and left for Germany in 1948. After the communist rise to power he decided to remain abroad and never returned to his homeland again. First of all he worked at the Museum George Frey near Munich and embarked upon research expeditions around Europe and also to Africa. In 1960, by then a famous entomologist, he moved to Brazil, where he started working as an entomologist for a university in Maracay. He specialised primarily in the family Chrysomelidae, i.e. leaf beetles, in which he became a world-renowned expert. He is not particularly well known in his homeland, as most of his more than 200 works were published in Spanish or German. However, his importance to world entomology is evident in the fact that many newly described beetle taxa were named after him. The commemorative plaque on his birthplace in Přibyslav was unveiled by municipal representatives in 2005 to mark what would have been his 85th birthday.
