University of Prague

Abstract

DB. GUSTAV ORTNER, of the Institut für Radiumforschung, Vienna, writes in connexion with the paragraph on the future of Czechoslovakia in NATURE of October 8, p. 637, that it gives an inadequate idea of the historical development of the universities in Czechoslovakia. He continues, “the University of Prague [was] founded by the German Emperor Karl IV in 1348 and so is the most ancient German university. It was only in the course of the nineteenth century that lectures in Czech were given and in 1882 an independent Czech University was separated off from it. In 1920 the ancient name of 'Karls-Universität' of the German University was transferred to the Czech University....” Obviously it was not possible to go into details in a brief paragraph, but the facts were correctly given. It is true that Charles IV (Karl in German, Karel in Czech) was not only king of Bohemia but Holy Roman Emperor as well, yet it was as king of Bohemia that he founded the University of Prague, and the 560th anniversary of his death was celebrated there on November 27. The Czech character of the University was emphasized by his son, Wenceslas IV, in a special decree in 1409. The University of Vienna dates from 1364, and that of Leipzig from 1409, having been founded in Saxony as a challenge to Prague at a time when Czech was used as well as Latin, which was naturally the main literary language there as everywhere at that time. Thus, the University of Prague is the oldest in Central Europe, but by its foundation it cannot be considered a German university. From 1620 until 1882 it was styled the Charles-Ferdinand University. Afterwards Prague had two universities, the Charles (Czech) and the Ferdinand, or now simply, German University. Another correspondent refers at length to a number of distinguished Prague biologists and the mathematician, Bolzano, not mentioned in the further article, in NATURE of November 26, p. 942.