Josef Smolka:
Fyzika v českých zemích v epoše osvícenství (1750–1850)

Abstract

Physics in the Czech lands in the era of scientific enlightenment (1750–1850).

The article provides a comprehensive outlook on the history of physics in the Czech lands in the era of Enlightenment and its heritage in the first half of the 19th century. Enlightenment in the Czech lands was a process of reforms directed from the imperial court, whose part was also the directive to teach experimental physics at the universities in Prague and Olomouc. After overcoming the Aristotelianism of Jesuit physics, it was dominated by Joseph Stepling, later the new research of electrical phenomena with the personality of the autodidact Prokop Diviš and at its end the influence of the professors František Petřina and Christian Doppler.

Language: czech

Keywords: history of physics • history of elektricity • Josef Stepling • Prokop Diviš • František Petřina • Christian Doppler