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ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

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Dějiny věd a techniky, No. 2, Vol. XXXX (2007)

PAPERS

65 • Research of Heredity – on Route to Understanding of Mendel’s DiscoveryVítězslav Orel
(Výzkum dědičnosti – na cestě za poznáním Mendelova objevu)

Attention is drawn to the unique network of sheep breeders and professors of agriculture and natural sciences leading in Moravia in 1818 to the generalization of knowledge in empiric genetic laws to be solved and in 1837 to the formulation of the useful research question of heredity. The historical investigation also contributed to the explanation of the problem regarding basic knowledge of heredity and evolution.

Key words
history of genetics • 1810s onwards • Moravia • G. Mendel

73 • Origin of the National Enterprise BiogenaRichard R. Senček
(Vznik národného podniku Biogena)

The article deals with the research of a short interval, when the Ministry of Health Care tried realising an idea to establish independent pharmaceutical industry focused at the biological products. The idea of the Ministry to retain own industry was not traditional not only in relation to its own history but also to the deep-rooted character of ministries’ of health care competence. Nationalised pharmaceutical industry belonged to the Ministry of Industry as regards competence. Nevertheless, it was one of the most profitable branches of the Czechoslovak industry in the given period. Therefore the Ministry of Health Care got into question of jurisdiction with the Ministry of Industry, and it prepared a project of an enterprise with the operative name Biotika that was to arch over the pharmaceutical production. The Ministry of Health Care was successful finally after many negotiations, and it established its own pharmaceutical national enterprise of the resulting name Biogena with the effect from January 1, 1950.

Key words
history of pharmacy ● 1950s ● Czechoslovakia ● pharmaceutical industry


87 • The Beginnings of the Czech Electrochemistry (to 1920)Jiří Jindra
(Počátky české elektrochemie)

Electrochemistry as a part of physical chemistry was not very appraised in the Czech lands between 1882 and 1920. It was connected with the common ignoring of physical chemistry in the country. Nevertheless, several chemists devoted themselves to the discipline, among them J. Baborovský who built up his own school in Brno later. Very promising O. Šulc unfortunately died young so that he did not succeeded to breed up new physical chemists or electrochemists in Prague. The third representative of the Czech physical chemistry and electrochemistry was J. Šebor, he could not however work fully in the disciplines in this period. Papers on electrolytic suboxide of silver and magnesium took relatively the biggest part of about forty research articles devoted to electrochemistry and electroanalysis. Relatively large part of published works dealt with electrolytes. Physical chemists O. Šulc, J. Šebor, J. Baborovský and physicist B. Mašek attended to further education—they published reports on physical chemistry and electrochemistry that in a way complemented study of the disciplines.

Key words
Czech electrochemistry • 1882–1920 • O. Šulc, J. Šebor, J. Baborovský

103 • The Czechoslovak BetatronIgor Janovský
(Československý betatron)

The first betatron accelerating electrons through magnetic induction was built by Donald Kerst at the University of Illinois in 1940.
Czechoslovakia, as one of a few (about six) countries of the world, managed production of betatron, as early as the 1950s. The research and development activities started in the Accelerator Department of the Research Institute for Vacuum Electrotechnique, which was transformed into the Institute of Vacuum Electronics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in 1959 and renamed to the Institute of Plasma Physics in 1963. The first two experimental betatrons with the energies of 1.8 and 2.5 MeV were built in 1954 and 1955, respectively, and were followed by an industrial (defectoscopic) 15-MeV betatron in 1956. The latter was awarded a gold medal at the World Exhibition EXPO 58 in Brussels. Production of the first series of the betatron started in Laboratotní přístroje nat. corp. (Chotutice) in 1959.
In the following years, the electron energy was increased to 17 MeV and later to 22 MeV. Since 1974, the industrial betatrons had been produced in the ZMA Ostrov in two variants: mobile and hanging. They were installed at the Škoda Works (Pilsen) and at other plants, and several instruments were exported.
Development of the therapeutic betatron started in cooperation with the Chirana nat. corp. in 1960 and the first instrument was installed in a hospital in 1962. Since 1968, the therapeutic instruments had been produced in ZMA Ostrov. They operated at about 8 hospitals through the country and enabled radiation therapy to be carried out at energies of up to 19 MeV, both with the electron beam and X-rays.

Key words
Betatron • defectoscopy • radiation therapy • Czechoslovakia

COMMUNICATION

119 • The Beginnings of the Ether Anaesthesia in Moravia in February 1847Jakub Vetešník
(Počátky éterové anestézie na Moravě v únoru 1847)

In Austria, the very first surgery with anaesthesia was undertook in Vienna, on January 27, 1847. In the Czech lands, the first use of anaesthesia was supposed in the historical literature in Prague, on February 7 in the same year. Nevertheless, really the historically first anaesthesia was applied in Brno, already on February 4, 1847, three days ago. The other surgeries with ether anaesthesia followed, in Olomouc, connected with the head physician, surgeon Dr. Francz Hauser (1800–1857), and elsewhere in Moravia during February and March.


© M. Barvík 2006