Otomar Pravoslav Novák

1851–1892 

Otomar Novák was a gifted palaeontologist, student and later assistant to Antonín Frič at the National Museum. He is the only direct successor to Joachim Barrande`s work. In 1883 he was appointed curator of Barrande`s collections bequeathed to the National Museum. He followed in Barrande's footsteps in terms of precision and thinking, and had an extraordinary talent for drawing. Thanks to him, the results of Barrande's work were published in Czech in the Vesmír magazine (Cosmos).

 

Otomar Novák was influenced from his youth by his uncle, the geologist Karel Feistmantel, who belonged to the National Museum circle. He was a student of palaeontology under Antonín Frič and became one of the first members of Frič's famous "Museum School", which produced such figures as J. Velenovský, F. Počta, J. Perner, J. Kořenský and others. Probably around 1874 Frič introduced him to Joachim Barrande, who worked as an independent researcher outside the academia. Barrande's palaeontological work describing Palaeozoic fossils remains to this day the most extensive scientific work completed by an individual. Barrande, who otherwise tended to stay away from society, took a liking to Novák. Modesty, diligence and precision were their common qualities. Barrande also supported Novák in his studies and encouraged him to complete his doctorate. At his graduation (1879) he was his only guest. The last volumes of Barrande's Silurian System were their joint work. Barrande's work was written in French and was little read because of its length (22 volumes of the Système silurien du centre de la Bohême, in which he described more than 3 500 species). On Frič's initiative, Novák's surveys of Barrande's work were published in Czech in the Vesmír magazine (Cosmos) [On the Trilobites or three-lobed Crustaceans (Trilobita) of the Bohemian Silurian Formation, An Overview of the Most Important Genera of the Bohemian Trilobites, which Jach. Barrande described]. Novák, though a generation younger, was also loyal to Barrande's peculiar theory of colonies, which was considered erroneous by most contemporary scientists. But Novák, like Barrande, devoted himself to precise description and comparison of fauna, not to evolutionary theories. His discoveries were significant for the stratigraphy of the Protozoa, regardless of his attitude to questions of species evolution.

Novák struggled with health and existential problems his whole life. Most of his meagre salary was spent on research, foreign travels and expensive depictions on lithographic plates. Advancing tuberculosis and financial difficulties caused the breakdown of his marriage. He lived and lectured in an apartment in Spálená Street, where some disciplines were moved after the division of Prague University into Czech and German parts in 1882. In 1883 Barrande died and left his extensive collection and his library to the National Museum; Novák became the custodian of these collections and was entrusted with completing the part of Barrande's work on Graptolithina, Anthozoa and Bryozoans. This work remained unfinished; A. Frič later purchased at least the unfinished parts from his heirs. (Barrande's work was posthumously completed mainly by W. H. Waggen, J. J. Jahn, F. Počta and J. Perner.) Novák then worked as an assistant to Jan Krejčí at the Prague University of Technology, lecturing geology in his place, while Krejčí was summoned as a professor to the newly established Czech part of the Prague University. Novák, in financial distress, applies for the post of special professor. He was granted the position, but without a salary. He was saved, paradoxically, by the demise of his friend and teacher Jan Krejčí, who died in 1887 and whose job as the chair of geology at the University of Prague Novák took over. 

His students remembered Otomar Novák not only as an exceptional researcher, but also as a dedicated teacher. After 1890 his health deteriorated rapidly. Two years later he died in Liteň in the Český Kras, in the care of his family, close to the sites that had been his lifelong source of knowledge. 

 

 

References

Horný, R.; Vaněk, S.: Lovec trilobitů v prvohorních mořích. Otomar Pravoslav Novák, žák a pokračovatel Barrandův. Vesmír 82. 2003. s. 77–80.

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.

MZ