The J.L. Fischer Memorial Lecture
The tradition of Lectures in Honour of J.L. Fischer was started in 1994, when the first was delivered on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Prof Josef Ludvík Fischer, the first rector of Palacký University after it was reinstated after WW2. It has been held annually ever since as a way of honouring his importance.
A university committee appointed for this purpose chooses an eminent Czech or foreign personality from various fields of science to deliver the lecture. The lectures are usually thematically focused on weighty research problems of the given scientific field within the social context. The lecture is held annually, usually in November.
The J.L. Fischer Memorial Lecture has been given by:
2023
Šimon Pánek, co-founder and executive director of the humanitarian organisation Člověk v tísni (People in Need)
Topic: Values of Democracy, Freedom, and Human Rights at Risk: Crisis in the Contemporary World
2022
Ing. Dana Drábová, Ph.D., dr. h.c. mult., nuclear engineer, Chair of the Státní úřad pro jadernou bezpečnost (State Office for Nuclear Safety)
Topic: Nuclear Energy in the Service of Man
2021
Prof. Mgr. Pavel Jungwirth, CSc., DSc., physical chemist and university teacher, science populariser, Chair of the Učená společnost ČR (Learned Society of the Czech Republic)
Topic: Water… You’re Getting Cold… Colder: Myths and Reality
2019
JUDr. Eliška Wagnerová, Ph.D., lawyer and judge, former Vice President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic
Topic: The Constitution, Constitutional Order and Independence of the Judiciary and the Media
2018
MUDr. František Koukolík, DrSc., neuropathologist, publicist, and writer
Topic: Functional Systems of the Human Brain
2016
doc. PhDr. Karel Floss, philosopher, translator, university teacher and senator
Topic: The Role of the Philosopher in Magical Olomouc
2015
ThLic. Dominik Cardinal Duka OP, Archbishop of Prague
Topic: Olomouc in the time of Prof Josef Ludvík Fischer (Faculty of Theology and Studium Generale OP)
2015
Prof. RNDr. Libor Grubhoffer, CSc., prominent natural scientist, university teacher, and current rector of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Topic: Ticks and Tick-transmitted Diseases
2013
Prof. PhDr. Jan Kořenský, DrSc., Czech linguist focussing on semantics, culture and system theory, Prague School of Linguistics theory, general theory of social communication and noetic science
Topic: J.L. Fischer, 1968
2012
Prof. RNDr. Blanka Říhová, DrSc., leading immunologist and microbiologist specialising in research on targeted drugs in cancer therapy
Topic: The Role of the Immune System in Cancer Development and Therapy
2011
Prof. Ing. Pavel Hobza, DrSc., prominent Czech scientist in the field of physical chemistry and winner of the Česká hlava (Czech Mind Award) in 2008 for the discovery of the improper hydrogen bond, lectures at the Department of Physical Chemistry at the UP Faculty of Science
Topic: Covalent and Non-covalent Interactions in the Natural Sciences
2010
Prof. RNDr. Bedřich Moldan, CSc., professor of environmental protection at Charles University Prague
Topic: Sustainable Development as a Contemporary Paradigm
2009
Prof. Mgr. Jindřich Štreit, renowned photographer and educator; he teaches at the Institute of Creative Photography, Silesian University in Opava
Topic: The Normalisation Era in Photography
2008
Prof. MUDr. Pavel Klener, DrSc., professor of internal medicine and oncology at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University Prague and consultant at the Institute of Haematology
Topic: Anti-cancer Treatment at the Beginning of the New Millennium
2007
Prof. PhDr. Jana Nechutová, CSc., leading Czech specialist in Latin Medieval Studies
Topic: Fathers to Sons. The Latin Continuity of the West
2006
Prof. RNDr. Lumír Ondřej Hanuš, DrSc., renowned chemist who has devoted his research to the chemical substances contained in the cannabis plant
Topic: Inner Happiness in Each of Us
2005
Prof. PhDr. Dr. Tomáš Halík, renowned theologian and sociologist, professor at Charles University and president of the Česká křesťanská akademie (Czech Christian Academy)
Topic: The Spiritual Experience of Europe
2004
Prof. RNDr. Helena Illnerová, DrSc., president of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Topic: Our Internal Time
2003
RNDr. Jiří Grygar, CSc., prominent astrophysicist and outstanding populariser of science
Topic: A Century of Panspermia
2002
Univ. Prof. DDr. Ota Weinberger, Dr. h.c., distinguished European expert in the field of philosophy of law
Topic: Institutions and Information (Reflections on semantics, logic and political science)
2001
Prof. Ing. Rudolf Zahradník, DrSc., Honorary President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, internationally recognised expert in quantum chemistry
Topic: The Molecular Sciences: Ten notes
2000
PhDr. Herbert Tomáš Mandl, prominent psychologist, philosopher, musician, and writer
Topic: Free will – A question of philosophy or psychology?
1999
Doc. ThDr. Karel Vrána, associate professor at the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague
Topic: Dialogical Personalism
1998
Prof. RNDr. Václav Pačes, DrSc., head of the Department of Gene Structure and Expression at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Topic: Genomics: A step into the 21st century
1997
Prof. PhDr. František Šmahel, DrSc., director of the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague
Topic: Historia Magistra: Lessons from History
1996
Prof. Josef Svoboda, PhD., dr. h.c., professor of ecology, University of Toronto, Canada.
Topic: On the Threshold of the Third Transgression
1995
Prof. MUDr. Ctirad John, DrSc., professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the 1st Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague
Topic: Immunology, Medicine, and the World
1994
Prof. Dr. Mikuláš Lobkowicz, president, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Topic: From Substance to Reflection