Commemorative Plaque to František Josef Studnička in Janov near Soběslav

The memorial plaque of František Josef Studnička (1836-1903) was unveiled on the house where he was born in Janov in 1924. It commemorates the researcher who linked his professional life mainly with the field of mathematics, but also with physics, astronomy, meteorology or physical geography. 

After his elementary-school years in Janov, František Josef Studnička studied at the German grammar school in Jindřichův Hradec and then mathematics, physics and natural sciences, i.e. zoology, mineralogy and biology, at the University of Vienna, but these remained on the periphery of his interest. From 1866 Studnička worked as a full professor of mathematics at the Prague Polytechnic. During this time, he published not only the first comprehensive Czech textbook of differential and integral calculus Fundaments of Higher Mathematics (three volumes published in 1867, 1868 and 1871), but also other writings such as Fundamentals of Spherical Trigonometry (1865), On the Solar System (1868) and Pocket Logarithmic Tables (1870). In 1871 Studnička moved to the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, where he also received a full professorship. He was the only professor of mathematics there who lectured in Czech. He remained there until the end of his life. From 1872 Studnička published a further series of writings and textbooks on mathematics, e.g. Fundaments of the Doctrine of Numbers (1874) or General Algebraic Morphology (1880), as well as popularly conceived astronomy, such as Entertaining Insights for Stargazers. In 1881-1883 Studnička`s comprehensive three-volume geographical work General Geography was published. Studnička also had a great interest in meteorology. In 1873-1889 he conducted a “rainfall-measuring survey of Bohemia” and in 1887 he published a work entitled Basic Rain Records of the Bohemian Kingdom. After the division of the universities into Czech and German parts in 1882, František Josef Studnička became the first dean of the philosophical faculty of the Czech part of the university and later its rector. He continued his publishing activities, whether professional mathematical, concerning the theory of determinants and quaternions, or popular scientific, as reflected in his writings To the End of the World (1895) and the book published in the same year, Der Mensch und die Pflanzenwelt (Man and the Plant World). Studnička was a member of many domestic and foreign scientific institutions. His very active life ended on 21 February 1903 and he is buried at the Olšany Cemetery in Prague. 

 

A memorial plaque to František Josef Studnička was unveiled on the house where he was born in Janov on 22 June 1924. The plaque, created by sculptor Jan Vítězslav Dušek, was initiated by the South Bohemian branch of the Central Association of Czechoslovak Professors in Tábor upon suggestion by Adolf Hemer. On the occasion, astronomer František Nušl and mathematician Karel Petr gave solemn speeches.

Němcová, M.: František Josef Studnička (1836–1903). Praha 1998.
 

Folta, J., Šišma, P.: František Josef Studnička. In: Math MUNI. URL: https://web.math.muni.cz/biografie/frantisek_josef_studnicka.html [25.8.2021].

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