- 21st century
The memorial plaque commemorating the important Czech physicist František Adam Petřina is located in Semily, in Petřinova Street, in the place where the house where F. A. Petřina was born in 1799. Petřina designed, among other things, a rotation machine, which is the predecessor of the electric motor.
František Adam Petřina is one of the most important Czech physicists. He was one of the first professors to use Czech in teaching at Charles University in Prague. He was devoted to the study of electricity and magnetism, studied galvanism and was one of the first physicists in our country to study electrochemistry. In theoretical physics he was one of the proponents of the fluid theory of electricity. His design of various experimental and measuring instruments was significant. He designed a rotating apparatus, which in its construction and function was a forerunner of the electric motor, designed an apparatus for generating an electric current, and was engaged in improving the battery and the telegraph. Among his most famous inventions is the so-called Petrina spiral - a device for cutting electric current. The plaque designed by MA. Vladimír Novotný on the site of his birthplace was unveiled by the municipality of Semily in 2005.
- References
Jindra, J.: František Adam Petřina (1799─1855). Pokroky matematiky, fyziky a astronomie. 51/2006, č. 4, s. 327─336.
Jindra, J.: První český univerzitní profesor fyziky. Akademický bulletin AV ČR, 12/2005.
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