The Faculty of Science, Charles University (, ''PřF UK'') is one of the 17 faculties of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. The faculty was founded by separation from the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

in 1920.

History

Before the separation from the Faculty of Arts

The natural sciences were taught at the

of Charles University. The faculty prepared their students to become secondary school teachers, pharmacists, or civil servants. In the second half of the 19th century, lectures in the Czech language were established. The division of the university into Czech and German in 1882 was a key point in the history of natural sciences in Czech lands. It led to the emancipation of Czech science.

Constitution of the faculty

Science professors at the Faculty of Arts proposed a motion for the division of the faculty into two separate ones. Despite the dismissal of the ministry, the idea of a separate faculty for the natural sciences was promoted successfully. The faculty's constitution was delayed because of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The Faculty of Science was established in 1920, and its first dean was mathematician Karel Petr.

Nazi occupation

The Faculty of Science was closed on 17 October 1939. The reason for the closure was demonstrations in Prague on 28 October, during Independence Day. The faculty was reopened after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The semester began on 1 June 1945.

Rule of communists

After the

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

took power in 1948, the Soviet model of education and science was implemented. Such things like the school of thought of

Lysenkoism Lysenkoism ( ; ) was a political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon ...

were forced to be leading in the academic sphere because of the ideological reasons. There were two waves of political vetting. The first one happened at the beginning of the 1950s and the second during normalization in 1969–1971. Many academicians were forced to leave the faculty. The change came with the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

in 1989. The 17 November demonstration began at Albertov which is near to the faculty dean's office. Students of the Faculty of Science participated in the demonstration that lead to the events that ended the rule of communists in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

COVID-19 pandemic

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, several experts from the Faculty of Science became well known in the Czech Republic, including

Jaroslav Flegr Jaroslav Flegr (born 12 March 1958) is a Czech parasitologist, evolutionary biologist, and author of the book ''Frozen Evolution''. He is professor of biology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, and is a member of the edito ...

Václav Hořejší Václav () or rarely Vácslav is a Czech male given name. It is among the most common Czech names. The Latinized form of the name is Wenceslaus and the Polish form of the name is Wacław. The name was derived from the old Czech name Veceslav, meani ...

, and

Dagmar Dzúrová Dagmar may refer to: People * Dagmar (given name), a feminine Scandinavian and German given name * Berthe Dagmar (1884–1934), French film actress * Dagmar (actress) (1921–2001), main stage name of American actress Virginia Ruth Egnor * Dagma ...

Academics

The Faculty of Science of Charles University is engaged in research in a wide range of environmental, geological, chemical and biological disciplines. In recent years, around 640 articles in international journals have been published annually by the staff and students of the Faculty of Science. In its materials, the faculty states that in recent years the number of articles published in impact periodicals has been increasing. The Faculty of Science ranks first in the annual evaluation of the results of research organizations in the Czech Republic, which is published by the Council for Research, Development and Innovation. In 2009 and 2010, only the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University and the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic significantly surpassed it in the overall point evaluation; In both years, the

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...

Faculty of Science received approximately the same number of points as the Faculty of Science. The faculty is the researcher or co-researcher of ten research projects (as of 2009) and the research was largely financed from the funds for these research projects. Another source of funds is the financing of so-called research centres. The research goals of the biological section are "ecological processes in the evolution of model groups of organisms" and "signalling and molecular mechanisms of cellular response", the goals of the chemical section are "new molecular systems for advanced health-beneficial and environmentally friendly applications", the research project of the geographical section is called "geographic systems and risk processes in the context of global changes and European integration" and the geological research project is "mechanisms of substance transport in the upper spheres of the earth".

Organization

The faculty consists of the following sections and departments:

References

External links

* {{Authority control Charles University 1920 establishments in Czechoslovakia Universities and colleges established in 1920