The book maps the development of Czech non-university science from the beginnings in the humanist learned societies to the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences transformation into a new institution of the Czech Academy of Sciences. A team of experienced authors bring in attractively written chapters with the history of important scientific institutions such as the Royal Bohemian Society of Learning, the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Masaryk Academy of Labour and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. An individual chapter is devoted to the main scientific institution of the Germans living in the Czech lands – Gesellschaft zur Förderung deutscher Wissenschaft, Kunst und Literatur in Böhmen. The richly illustrated book also involves profiles of prominent figures who were very influencial in the development of the Czech sciences as well as summarizing chapters devoted to the development of science in the 19th and 20th centuries. It offers readers a fascinating look at the interesting and dramatic ups and downs of the unique story of the Czech sciences, which had to fight for their respektive positions and credits on the world stage.
ALOIS NEBEL 
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