Commemorative Plaque to Čeněk Strouhal in Seč

The memorial plaque on the building of today`s Měšťanská beseda beer house in Seč commemorates an important physicist, the founder of experimental physics in this country, Čeněk Strouhal, who was born here in 1850. He was one of the first Czech professors of physics, founded the Institute of Physics at Karlov at Charles University in Prague, and his experimental work in physics is commemorated by a constant named after him, the so-called Strouhal number.

Čeněk Strouhal was born into a family of a poor cottager, his family house stood on the site of today`s Seč square. Although the family had no money, their son`s talent convinced them to let him study. After grammar school in Hradec Králové, he enrolled to study physics in Prague and already during his studies he started his scientific career, which eventually made him famous. He studied under the renowned physicist Ernst Mach, soon became an associate professor and professor, and his work in various fields of experimental physics led him to found his own physics institute, which became the basis for today`s teaching of experimental physics in the country. From Prague, where he lectured, he often went back to his native Seč, where he could rest. Although his native cottage disappeared in the course of time, the famous professor had a three-storey house built in its place, where he lived after his retirement. In 1930, on the occasion of his birthday, which he didn`t live to celebrate, a plaque was installed on this house, on today`s Professor Čeněk Strouhal Square, by which Czech mathematicians and physicists, as well as the Union of Czechoslovak Physicians, paid tribute to him. To this day, Strouhal is regularly commemorated on the anniversaries of the founding of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University and its Institute of Physics, which he founded. In addition, he is also commemorated in the world of physics by the so-called Strouhal number, which indicates the relationship between the frequency, characteristic dimension and velocity scale of a periodically varying flow.

TĚŠÍNSKÁ, E.: Fyzik Čeněk Strouhal. Bulletin Československé akademie věd, č. 3, str. 8

 

STROUHAL E.; TĚŠÍNSKÁ, E.; VALENTA, J.: Profesor Čeněk Strouhal: zakladatel české experimentální fyziky. Praha 2012. 295 s.

Strouhal's memorial plaque in Seč (Author: PH)