The following text is not a historical study. It is a retelling of the witness’s life story based on the memories recorded in the interview. The story was processed by external collaborators of the Memory of Nations. In some cases, the short biography draws on documents made available by the Security Forces Archives, State District Archives, National Archives, or other institutions. These are used merely to complement the witness’s testimony. The referenced pages of such files are saved in the Documents section.

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Prof. Ing., DrSc. Rudolf Zahradník (* 1928  †︎ 2020)

It is not possible to guarantee the success of any research, it would not be research

  • born on October 20, 1928 in Bratislava

  • member of the Scouts association

  • participated in the Prague Uprising in May 1945

  • graduated from the Chemical Industrial School and the University of Chemical Technology in Prague

  • worked at the Institute of Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Diseases

  • since 1961 a researcher at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences

  • together with Jaroslav Koutecký laid the foundations of quantum chemistry in the Czech Republic

  • affected by normalization inspections

  • in 1993–2001 the director of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

  • died on October 31, 2020 at the age of 92

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