Birthplace of Emanuel Bořický in Milín

1882 

Emanuel Bořický (1840-1881), the founder of Czech petrography and the pioneer of microchemical methods of mineral determination, has a memorial plaque on his family house No. 75 in Milín, which was commissioned a year after his death by the Svatobor Association and the municipality of Milín. Despite his untimely death due to an accident, Bořický is one of the few world-famous Czech geologists for his discoveries.

 

Emanuel Bořický came from a family of teachers. He was born in Milín, studied in Prague and became a university professor of mineralogy. Petrography, the science of rock composition, was in its infancy at that time. Bořický is one of its founders. He significantly developed analytical and microchemical methods for the study of rocks from thin cuttings. He died as a result of a fall on the ice while crossing the frozen Vltava River in Prague a year after he became a professor of mineralogy at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague. Four thousand people attended his funeral. All the obituaries mourned the untimely passing of a man who was An honest son of his country, a man of rigorous science and a true friend of his pupils (from an obituary in Horymír magazine).

Today, only an inconspicuous syenite plaque can be seen on the house where he was born, but its placement on the first anniversary of his death was accompanied by a grand patriotic celebration. Corners and buildings were festooned with flowers, inscriptions on banners were displayed on all important buildings to honour the great man, and all local associations and many from the region were present. There was a choir, a band and numerous delegations from Prague. The sight of the procession making its way to the plaque was breath taking, and many of the locals described their thus: “Milín has never seen anything like it.” In the Milín Chronicle we read: The day of 25 June 1882 will remain an especially memorable one in Milín.

In addition to the commemorative plaque on his birthplace, the great native of Milín is also commemorated in the name of the local library and in the name of a street.

 

References

Kettner, R.: Geologické vědy na pražských školách. Univerzita Karlova. Praha 1967, s. 77–79.

Matoušek, O.: Dějiny československé geologie. Mladá generace československých přírodovědců a zeměpisců. Praha 1935.

Pamětní kniha městyse Milína, díl II. O rodu a působení univ. prof. Dra Emanuela Bořického, zakladatele české mineralogie a petrografie. Milín – oficiální stránky obce. URL: https://www.milin.cz/evt_file.php?file=4537&original=doc1.pdf [26. 1. 2021].

Ústav petrologie a strukturní geologie. Medaile Emanuela Bořického. URL: https://www.natur.cuni.cz/geologie/petrologie/medaile-emanuela-borickeho [26. 1. 2021].

 

MZ

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