František Běhounek

František Běhounek ( born October 28, 1898 in Prague - Hole Scho joke; † January 1, 1973 in Karlovy Vary ) was a Czechoslovakian physicist and author with a focus on the young people's literature and science fiction.

Life

František Běhounek was the son of a machinist. He visited in the years 1916-1921 the gymnasium and studied physics and mathematics at the Charles University in Prague, and later Radiology in France. His teacher was Marie Curie, where he in 1922 Dr. phil. doctorate.

In the years 1923 and 1924, he checked into Jáchymov the conditions for the construction of a line of radioactive water from the pit Svornost in the spa. He found in his rock measurements that here European record values ​​are reached.

But the cosmic radiation was of interest to him. He took part on the recommendation of Curie in 1926 at the North Pole expedition of Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and Umberto Nobile, he gives the base at Kongsfjorden remained at Spitsbergen. Measurements during the expedition but were carried out with his instruments. The results of his research he published with the Swedish physicist Finn Malmgren.

Also at the airship expedition Nobile with the Italia in 1928, he took part. With it, he crossed the first Czech to the North Pole in the air. The crash of the airship he was with the rescued by the Krasin. The long waiting time on the ice and the ride on the Krasin he used for his research. This he described in 1928 in his book " Trosečníci na kre ledové " ( " The castaways of the Arctic Ocean ").

In Prague, he was involved in the founding of the Observatory for atmospheric electricity in Štrbské Pleso. In 1929 he qualified for radiology and atmospheric electricity. In 1935 he became Director of the National Radiological Institute. After the war, in 1946 he became head of the physics department of the Institute for radiotherapy in the Prague hospital Bulovka. Board he remained until 1955.

Further stations of his university career were 1954 and 1956, the extraordinary ordinary professor. In 1955 he was co-founder of the Faculty of Technical Physics and Nuclear Physics of the University of Prague, which was incorporated in 1959 to the Czech Technical University. 1963 to 1971 he held the chair for dosimetry and was responsible for the applications of ionizing radiation.

From the 1950s he was sent by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an expert for UNESCO. At the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, he was director for external dosimetry. The radiation protection it has always been a special concern.

At the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome Běhounek was a corresponding member.

As a writer, he wrote popular science and in fiction 28 volumes, such as " Kniha robinsonů " (1944 ) or " Ledovou stopou " (1946 ), in which he recorded his impressions of the expeditions, among others. Today known are his science fiction works, including " Akce L" ( 1956), " Robin Soni z vesmíru " (1958) and "Project scavenger " (1961).

Works

• Literature by and about František Běhounek the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic

• Seven weeks on the ice. The sinking of the Nobile expedition. F.A.Brockhaus, Leipzig 1929
• Shipwreck in space
• Gold and Silver
• The Mutiny on the "Bounty " and other Robinsonaden
• Man and the radioactivity
• The dragon island. In: Small Youth series. Vol 14 (1963 ), Issue 20
• Rebellion on the island. Series Crime Adventure Fantasy, 1966
• The Ten of the Alexander / With Spanish sailors on the Turtle Islands. Series Crime Adventure Fantasy, 1967

Appreciation

The 1984 -discovered planet No. 3278 was named after him.