"Perhaps we first saw each other thirty years ago, plus or minus, and since then what she says and the impression she makes is unchanged. So, it's a person who has experienced something, she described it then, she described it after five years, after twenty years, so it's still the same, which is nice. She must have been popular, because she was a very friendly woman, I'd say the exquisite women's manners." - "And how was she as a scientist, in terms of…?" - "First-class, I didn't take anyone else for internships." - "And what was she working on at your institute? I think there was a topic of some dissertation." - "Sure, of course, it was basically about calculating the properties of molecules and reactivity. And of course, this was done experimentally for decades. Now it's also done experimentally when I want to know if this or that molecule behaves in a spectrophotometer or at raised temperature. This can be done experimentally, but now for a few decades it can also be done numerically based on a theory that describes molecules and the reactivity of molecules, that is based on quantum mechanics."
"Then there were people whom we - that was not possible to say - considered as moral rats, scamps, who not only stood on that very brutal side, but they did so with such eagerness that it was disgusting and outrageous. "Did they oppose you, or did they try to get on your positions?" - "Well, they opposed… I would say against everyone whom you and me consider normal people." - "How did they do it, what methods did they have?" - "Well, first of all, they deprived us of all possible functions. I was removed from the position of the head of department during that first inspection. Many people experienced that. I responded internally by saying to myself, 'That's wonderful, I'll be able to do my science, my research, undisturbed, and I won't be distracted by the responsibilities that the position of the head of department or the group leader requires.' It distracted one from the beloved work a little bit, so to speak."
"Yes, I took them there, it was around the corner from our apartment and there was the family of my wife Milena, the Bílek's family. Milena's father had nothing to do with the war, the fighting, the family was placed in the cellar around the corner from us. Of course, I wasn't there - we and a small group of boys were ready to bring information here and there or to look for a midwife for the expectant mother, one remembers it so vividly. We did that, we carried food and drinks from one place to another and so on." - "And there you met your wife in that hiding place for the first time, or you saw her…" - Yes, she was there… There were all the families of that house in those cellars." And there I saw her. And you see, I wasn't just focused on the war, but I noticed a girl who caught my attention, so it caught my eye just like the things about dealing with the consequences of the war."
Rudolf Zahradník was born on October 20, 1928 in Bratislava. He lived in Piešťany. Then in 1939 he left to Prague with his family. He was active in the scout movement and took part in the Prague Uprising in May 1945. He worked in the laboratory of a chemical company and then graduated from the Chemical Industrial School and the University of Chemical Technology in Prague. He was employed at the Institute of Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, and since 1961 at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Together with Jaroslav Koutecký, he was one of the pioneers of quantum chemistry in Bohemia. He lectured abroad, he witnessed the Hungarian uprising in 1956, and he was removed from the leadership during inspections after 1968. He published a number of articles and books, from 1993 to 2001 he led the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and from 1994 to 1997 he also led the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. He is the holder of a number of awards, prizes and honorary doctorates. He died on October 31, 2020 at the age of 92.
