The University of Hradec Králové has appointed its first professors emeritus

The term professor emeritus is conferred for life in honour and respect of the lifetime results of outstanding university professors: “The appointment of the first professors emeritus reminds us of the rich history and solid foundations on which the values of the University of Hradec Králové now stand. And 2019 witnesses celebrations underlining 60 years of the establishment of the Institute of Education, the predecessor of the University of Hradec Králové. I am proud that it is these two scientific personalities and their lifelong work that I can acknowledge – their work constitutes an integral part of the development of our school,” said UHK Rector, Kamil Kuča.

A person who has extensively contributed towards the development of the UHK or any of its faculties and whose work shows a high degree of pedagogical and scientific erudition and uncontested results and is internationally recognised by the scientific community can be nominated to carry the “professor emeritus” title. And that is exactly how both appointed gentlemen can be characterised. “It gives me great pleasure to have had the honour to recommend these two colleagues for professor emeritus; they are inextricably linked with the Faculty of Science of the University of Hradec Králové. Over the years they have not only furthered their fields of study but they have also influenced generations of students, myself included,” says Pavel Trojovský, Dean of the Faculty of Science of the University of Hradec Králové.

Professor Bohumil Vybíral took up a scientific career in 1959 and since then he has published over 285 scientific and specialist articles, didactic texts and books and he has obtained 6 patents for inventions. He is also dedicated to helping young talents interested in physics and has assisted them on their way to international physics olympiads. He started working for the University in 1978 at the Department of Physics; first as an associate professor and then as a professor of physics in 1997.

He has steadily shaped the UHK into what it is today. As vice-rector for development and vice-rector for construction, he spent 13 years organising the planning permission procedures for the construction of the Na Soutoku Campus, the building procedure and actual construction of the House of Joined Education (1995–1997) and the Faculty of Informatics and Management building. He paved the way for the transition of the University of Education into the University of Hradec Králové and laid down the initial Constitution of the University of Hradec Králové, including all internal rules and regulations, and the emblem and insignia of our University. As authorised dean, he was also at the start of the Faculty of Humanities (today the Philosophical Faculty of the UHK, 2005–2006) and the Faculty of Science (2010–2011).

Professor František Kuřina has been just as active. Throughout his teaching career, which started in 1960 at the Institute of Education, he has influenced many generations of maths teachers in the Hradec Králové Region. He first worked as a senior lecturer at the Department of Mathematics, then as an assistant professor from 1990 and finally as a professor of the theory of mathematics education from 1997 onwards. He gave lectures and focused on tutoring his students in geometry and the theory of mathematics education. He has so far published 484 scientific and specialist articles, 8 monographs, 4 textbooks for universities and 27 textbooks for primary schools. Alongside his teaching career he has also concentrated on furthering his scientific work and in doing so he has become an internationally renowned Czech expert in the principles of teaching mathematics. His most astounding works include: Sight in mathematics, the Child, the School and mathematics (Umění vidět v matematice, monografie Dítě, škola a matematika, written together with Professor Milan Hejný) and he is a contributing author of several textbooks published by such printing houses as Prometheus (Svět čísel a tvarů) and by the Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Matematika pro základní školu). Initiated by UNESCO, some of his works have also been published in several foreign languages, including Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic.

He is also trying to make mathematics more popular, especially his beloved geometry. He does so in a unique manner. Through art – he is an avid photographer and his pictures often combine the beauty of mathematics around us and the town of Hradec Králové.

Professors emeritus may continue to exercise the selected rights of a member of the academic community, so they may, for example, give lectures: “People don’t cease to be scientists overnight only because they retire and I am glad that I can still meet these colleagues in and around the University and that I can continue to follow their upcoming work,” concluded Kamil Kuča, Rector of the University of Hradec Králové.