Famous Czech Writer – František Běhounek
b) František Běhounek
From the 1930s František Běhounek propagated science in literature. He wrote adventurous prose, science – fiction novels and science works from the field of radiology and atomic physics.
František Běhounek was born on the 28th October 1898 in Prague. When he was young he was attracted by Jules Verne’s novels. In Prague he attended secondary school. In 1916 he enrolled at Charles University where he studied mathematics and physics. He finished his studies in 1920. After that he studied under Mrs. Marie Curie – Sklodowská in Paris for two years.
In 1926 she recommended him as a member of the expedition to the Arctic with Amundsen, Ellsworth and Nobile. There he measured the radioactivity of the atmosphere. He also became a member of the second expedition to the Arctic with Umberto Nobile in 1928. But Nobile’s dirigible Italia wrecked and the expedition had to live on an ice floe for several weeks. They were rescued by the Russian ice-breaker Krasin.
After a year he was habilitated as a senior lecturer for radioactivity studies. From 1933 to 1945 he was a director of the State Radiological Institute in Prague. After the Second World War he worked in the Institution of Nuclear Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the committee of UNO for the research of atomic heat. In 1960 he became an academician of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. He died in Karlovy Vary on the 1st January 1973.
His writings: His first book was named Trosečníci na kře ledové 1928. There he depicted the general experience of Nobile’s expedition to the Arctic that lived several weeks on an ice floe[1]. This documentary story was translated to many languages.
In the books Tajemství polárního moře 1942, Ledovou stopou 1946, Mlha nad Atlantikem 1969, V říši věčného ledu a sněhu 1936, Robinzoni z Kronborgu 1944, and V horách Větrné řeky 1947 he depicted stories of boys or men who lived in inhospitable northern countries and who were dependent upon their bravery, tenacity, friendship, self-sacrifice[2] and knowledge of natural sciences.
The books Ostrov draků 1958 and Robinzon Želvích ostrovů 1965 resemble the above mentioned books but these stories are located at the Pacific Ocean. In his novel Fregata pluje kolem světa 1942 the main hero is a Czech cadet who travelled on the warship Novara in the years 1857 – 1859.
The lives of travellers, survivors and discoverers were depicted in the books Lidé a póly, Kniha Robinzonů, and Lovci paprsků. After he read the diary of our African traveller Emil Holub, he recomposed his story in the book Na sever od Zambezi 1946.
In the books Dům zelených přízraků 1969 and Rokle u Rjukanu 1966 he employed his knowledge about radioactivity. Scientific presumptions and logical deduction were the base to his science-fiction novels Akce L, Robinzoni vesmíru, and Projekt Scavenger.
He wrote the biography of Pierre Curie and Fréderic Joliot – Curie.
Of course he wrote popular scientific works, for example: Od atomu k vesmíru 1939, Země, planeta neznámá 1941, Atom děsí svět 1947, Atomy dnes a zítra 1962, Atomy vládnou and scientific works from the field of radiology.
His works and books were translated by H. Roemp and E. Larsen.
I chose František Běhounek because I have read some of his book when I was younger. I think he is an interesting writer. I like science-fiction novels with an interesting technical base or idea.
Rokle u Rjukanu: It’s a thrilling story from the Second World War. In Germany, the Nazis want to abuse hard water to make nuclear bombs and a group of soldiers wants to stop them.
