František Běhounek (; 27 October 1898

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

– 1 January 1973 Karlovy Vary) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

scientist (radiologist), explorer and writer. The asteroid 3278 Běhounek is named after him.

Biography

Běhounek studied physics and mathematics at Charles University, later

radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

in France with Marie Curie-Skłodowska. In 1920s, he was one of the founders of State Radiological Institute. In 1926, he took part in an expedition of

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen beg ...

to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

with airship ''

Norge Norge is Norwegian (bokmål), Danish and Swedish for Norway. It may also refer to: People * Kaare Norge (born 1963), Danish guitarist * Norge Luis Vera (born 1971), Cuban baseball player Places * 11871 Norge, asteroid Toponyms: * Norge, Okl ...

''. In 1928, as an expert on

cosmic rays Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our ow ...

, he was a member of crew of airship ''

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the Italy (geographical region) ...

'' led by

Umberto Nobile Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembe ...

. He survived its crash in 1928, and later described it in his book ''Trosečníci na kře ledové''.literally ''Castaways on an ice floe'' As a scientist, he worked in industrial companies, medical institutions, universities and in the state academy. From the 1950s on, he participated in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

projects.

Works

Běhounek published about 28 novels (most of them aimed at young people, popularizing science or

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

) and many scientific works. *''Boj o zeměkouli'' – sci-fi novel (Prague, 1939) *''Svět nejmenších rozměrů'' (Prague, 1945) *''Případ profesora Hrona'' – sci-fi novel (Prague, 1947) *''Swansonova výprava'' – sci-fi novel (Prague, 1949) *''Tajemství polárního moře'' – adventure novel about a north pole expedition (Prague, 1942) *''Akce L'' – sci-fi novel (1956) *''Robinsoni vesmíru'' – sci-fi novel (1958) *''Tábor v lese'' (Prague, 1960) *''Kletba zlata'' – short stories (Prague, 1942) *''Fregata pluje kolem světa'' – adventure novel about Austrian Imperial expedition of (Prague, 1969) *''Projekt Scavenger'' – sci-fi novel (Prague, 1961)

References

External links

Biography concentrated on explorer and writer (in Czech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Behounek, Frantisek 1898 births 1973 deaths Czech physicists Czech male writers Czech science fiction writers Czech explorers Scientists from Prague