Assistant Professor, PhD in Systematic philosophy
College of International Management ISM Slovakia in Prešov,
3951/1 Duchnovičovo námestie Sq., Prešov, 080 01, Slovak Republic
ambrozy@ismpo.sk
MILOŠ VÁCLAV LOKAJÍČEK (1923 – 2019) PASSED AWAY
On 7th November 2019, was died one of the most important Czech physicists prof. RNDr. Miloš Václav Lokajíček, DrSc. Legend of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, physicist of the world name, passed away at the age of 96.
Miloš Václav Lokajíček was born on 20. August 1923 in Starý Plzenec. In the period I. and II. of the Czechoslovak Republic and during the Protectorate he studied at the grammar school in Pilsen. He graduated in 1942. At the end of the World War II he joined the resistance.
As the Czech universities were closed during the occupation, Lokajíček began his university studies in 1945. He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in 1948 in the field of mathematics and physics. Just after II. World War becomes a collaborator of professor Tomislav Kolakovič and a member of some Christian associations. The most important of these was the Association with the name Family. As a Christian intellectual he did not receive a positive cadre assessment. He was employed at the State Radiological Institute in Prague. He was interested in improving radiological treatment in oncology, where he successfully designed accurate radiation of tumor foci. Together with academician Václav Votruba he proposed the first procedure of systematic description of elementary particle. Title od CSc. he got 1953 at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Science, Charles University.
From 1953 he worked at the Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 1954 Lokajíček was arrested. The Regional Court of Prague sentenced him to 7 years in prison. The immediate causes of the conviction were two: membership of the Family and defense of Milada Horáková at the time of the lawsuit against her. Recall that Lokajíček was a very close collaborator of prof. Kolakovič, accompanied him to a repatriation train to Belgium. In fact, he was the last of the Family Society, who was in physical contact with prof. Kolaković.
Fortunately, he was not serving his entire sentence in prison. Academician Votruba intervenoval u prezidenta Antonín Zápotocký. When Zápotocký visited the Soviet Union, he met with academician L. D. Landau. The president asked academician Landau what he could do for Czechoslovak physics. The answer was – release Lokajíček. So it happened. A year after his release Lokajíček began developing nuclear facilities for medical purposes in the Tesla Research Plant. After returning in a year he starts working again in the Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science in basic physical research. Here he unofficially led a section of elementary particles. In 1990 he started to work with CERN. In 1992 he was appointed professor in Germany. The focus of the work of prof. Lokajíček, DrSc. was a fundamental physical research in the field of particles. He described scattering and collision of particles. He also dealt with the theoretical foundations of quantum mechanics. In his research and theoretical work he advocated the preservation of the causal – ontological principle in the physical sciences. Its implementation is important for the precise localization of the radiation technique of cancer.
Miloš Václav Lokajíček has worked as a researcher of the Institute of Physics until the last days. Even in the last year of his life, he has published several exceptionally high-quality registered and indexed publications, with an overlap with philosophical contexts. He has published over 300 scientific publications in his fruitful scientific life. In 1992 he was awarded the Golden Plaque of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science. Professor Lokajíček discovered several serious mistakes in the field of basic research in quantum theory. He drew attention to them in some focal publications. He published one of his most important publications 6 weeks before his death.
In personality of prof. Lokajíček we lose a particularly outstanding scientific personality of Czech and world physics. The extraordinary vitality that accompanied prof. Lokajíček, a low-key throughout his life, he was destined for many important scientific and social achievements. Although in recent years prof. Lokajíček locust is physically weaker, its presence in renowned publications and at some scientific conferences was an accompanying sign of his still young spirit.
Honour his memory!