Welcome to Praha

     PRAHA in Czech, PRAGA in Latin, PRAG in German, PRAGUE in English – different names for one of the most picturesque towns in the world. Since the dawn of Czech written history in the 9^th century, Praha has been always a crossroads of routes coming from the west to the east, from the north to the south.

     Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, with more than 1.2 million inhabitants is rich in its beauty and in its unique history since ancient times. For over one thousand years, Prague has been the seat of kings, emperors and presidents. The flavour and beauty of the town are given not only by its location, but also by its unique collection of artistic monuments from various ages, as well as by its modern life and progressive development. Prague, the centre of industrial, cultural and scientific life, is known for its famous cultural events.

     Prague is also interesting through its rich history of science and technology. Outstanding personalities of the city are represented, for example, by Johannes Kepler, whose stay in Prague (1600 - 1612) resulted in the discovery of the famous laws of planetary motion, and Christian Doppler - Professor of Mathematics at Prague Technical University (1835 - 1847), who formulated his well known principle in Prague. Further, Ernst Mach - Appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at Prague University in 1867, who spent nearly 30 years in Prague - contributed to the development of several parts of physics. Albert Einstein was without doubt the most famous physicist who worked in Prague (1911 - 1912). The field of chemistry is also represented: Jaroslav Heyrovsky developed here the method and instrumentation of polarography (Nobel Prize 1957) and Otto Wichterle invented plastic gel eye lenses in 1967.