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8

POLITICAL

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

language, and Czech literaturę), there wcre predomi-nantly smaller departments and laboratories headed, for the most part, by important advanced schoolteachers.

Of course, the academy had yet another feature as a society of selected membcrs. In 1952, Stalinism was at its peak and yet actual representatives of our scientific community from the older and middle generations were appointed to the academy from the natural Sciences (as well as from technology), and, to a certain extent, evcn from some of the social Sciences. Perhaps only Bohumil Nemec, the outstanding plant physiologist, who unfortu-nately was expected to be a candidate for the Office of President of the Republic in 1935, was missing from this list, but within two years he, too, was elected to the academy. However, we must not forget the outstanding physicist, B. Goldschmied, who was found dead fol-lowing a mysterious fali from the roof of a house where he Iived, during the times of the show trials.

In the beginning, the academy resisted an overly topical dilution, which its vice president, V. Laufberger, called “thatchwork”—an effort to cover all scientific disci-plines at academy work sites. The same view was also held by the principal organizer of the academy, F. Sorm, who was himself an outstanding organie chemist. How-ever, he was accused of “chemocracy” because selected topics in chemistry, which were at an outstandingly high level in this country among the natural Sciences, were supported within the academy. To the detriment of events, two negative trends began to gradually assert themselves. The rcquiremcnt for proportional dcvelop-ment of science meant that research would be ongoing in all possible scientific disciplines, completely counter to the original principles accompanying the establishment of the academy. Another trend—“face practical applica-tions!”—emanated from political locations and was very welcome by representatives of the technical disciplines, who felt oppressed.

The existence of work sites focused on strongly oriented basie research, through work sites concentrating expressly on applied research (of course, predominantly without realization of the research in practice), was quite problematic within the network of academic institutions. However, the “technicians” suddenly strengthened their position with the advent of Dr. J. Kozesnik who had been head of research at the Czechoslovak Engineering Works. [The word “kozesnik” translates as “furrier,” hence the article headline refers to followers of Dr. Kozesnik.] This mechanical engineer and quite a good applied mathematician was head of the “gun factory” during the war at the Skoda Plant at Plzen, a position for which he was awarded the Eagle of St. Wenceslaus. His star in the academy was in rapid ascendance. In 1953, he became deputy principal scientific secretary of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, then was promoted to main scientific secretary, and, in the end, became a vice president of the academy. However, there were several vice presidents, including the influential F. Sorm. Toward the end of the 1950’s, Sorm committed an unpardonable error. He gave millionaire Cyrus Eaton, the American pcace activist, a set of phonograph records containing Janacek compositions, on the occasion of Eaton’s visit to Prague. This enraged Janacek enemy Z. Nejedly to such an extent that he demanded that the govemment immediately recall Sorm (V. Kopecky is alleged to have said that if Nejedly had power like Beria in Russia, Sorm would have already been shot)....

When Nejedly died in 1963, the political leadership could not decide for somc time about his successor. They had originally intendcd to appoint L. Stoli, but, in the end, they acquiesced to the recommendations of the Soviet academy which said that the “president should be a researcher of world importancc,” which meant Sorm. However, this did not mean that Sorm was guided by some kind of Soviet example, as was being demanded at the time. On the contrary, the Semyakin Institutc of the Chemistry of Natural Substances of the Soviet academy was organized according to the Institute of Organie Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which was headed by Sorm.

In the 1960’s, some natural science work sites of the academy became internationally recognized research centers. But even in the social Sciences, it was beginning to dawn. As an example, I shall list the area which is sacred to traditional Marxism—two contradictory phi-losophers, but both clearly defending non-Marxist opin-ions: Jan Patocka acquired the academic title of doctor of Sciences in the Philosophical Institute of the Czecho-slovak Academy of Sciences, and Ladislav Tondl actu-ally became chief of the Department for Social Functions of Science of the Czcchoslovak Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless, progress in the social Sciences was con-stantly held back by the upraiscd finger of the Kouckys and the Hendrichs in the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party. On the other side, ideological supervision in the natural Sciences was completely neg-ligible (the Lysenkoism, which was promoted in biology in the 1950’s was being taken seriously in the 1960’s only by individuals who were ridiculed by others).

However, the developmcnt of the academy did not only have its positive sides. Toward the end of the 1960’s, the consequences of extensivc growth and the unbalanced quality at work sites began to show up. The total number of employees was approaching 10,000, which was a number reachcd in the 1980’s by the similar West German institution for basie research, the Max Planck Society, which was, however, outstanding in all disciplines. The number of scientific workers (3,000) was even relatively higher than the 38,000 at the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1968.... The academy as a whole was aging bccause it was practically impossiblc to get rid of inefficient scientists who only found comfortable employment in science. Consequently, as an experiment, Sorm proposed that five-ycar or shorter work agreements be concluded with scientific employees. Institutes which accepted this experiment were rewarded by having their wagę funds inereased. This essentially sensible proposal, however, was transformed into its dialectical antithesis, as we will sec directly.