Commemorative Plaque to J. M. Marci in Litomyšl

The memorial plaque located at Smetanovo Square No. 70 in Litomyšl commemorates Jan Marek Marci, an important physician and physicist of the 17th century, who studied the physical properties of light.

J. M. Marek Marci was a prominent Czech physician and physicist. He was born in 1595 in Lanškroun. His father worked as a caretaker of the local chateau and in 1601 he was appointed as the castle burgrave in Litomyšl. The whole family moved to Litomyšl to the house on today`s Smetanovo Square No. 70, where Jan Marek Marci`s father had bought a house. The six-year-old Marci spent seven years there and at the age of thirteen he was sent to study at the Jesuit college in Jindřichův Hradec and then to Olomouc. He completed his studies in Prague in 1625, when he was graduated as a doctor of medicine. In his practice he treated many notables of his time, even two emperors. He was also intensively engaged in physics experiments, especially in optics. He is still considered the founder of spectroscopy and one of the leading opticians of his time.

Jan Marek Marci 1595─1667. Život, dílo, doba. Sborník přednášek k 400. výročí narození. Lanškroun, 1995, 110 s.

Skřivánek, M.: Litomyšl 1259–2009, město kultury a vzdělávání. Litomyšl 2009, s. 167.

(Author: PH)

(Author: PH)