Technikatörténeti szemle 23. (1997-98)
TANULMÁNYOK - Efmertová, Marcela: Major Anniversaries of Prague’s Czech Technical University and its Support from the Secondary School System in the Past
Known as a distinguished scientist and a man of practical skills, Gerstener was invited in 1795 to propose changes in the system of natural science and technical education in the monarchy and to co-operate with Heinrich Ferdinand Count of Rottenhan (1738-1809) 13 , then chairman of the Austrian Court Commission for Higher Education. Gerstner's practical and scientific qualifications made him an ideal person for the task of improving the system of natural science and technical education. Thanks to his rich scientific contacts in Paris, Vienna as well as in German and English centres of learning, he was well acquainted with the systems of technical education abroad. He focused his attention primarily on the French technical schools, notably the Paris-based Ecole polytechnique, already at the time of its establishment a dominating power among the world's technical universities. Gerstner knew that this particular school would, thanks to its high level of science-based education, have no serious contender. He was particularly interested in its organization of studies. He knew its curriculum not only from the letters of the French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre (1749-1822) 14 who informed Gerstner that the Convent had approved the foundation of Ecole Centrale des Travaux Publics on September 28, 1794 (one year later it was renamed to Ecole polytechnique) but also from the magazine Journal de I'Ecole polytechnique where professors not only published detailed programmes of their lectures but also their own scientific papers. Later on, beginning in 1804, F. J. Gerstner drew information from the journal Correspondence sur I'Ecole polytechnique. From Ecole's organizational statutes, drawn up by the distinguished mathematician Gaspard Monge (1746-1818), Gerstner knew that studies at Ecole polytechnique lasted three years. In the first year, students were taught mathematics, descriptive geometry, physics, chemistry, and draughtsmanship. Architecture, road building and maintenance, construction of bridges, canals and harbours, mining were taught in the second year, and mechanics in the third one. At the end of the course, students were obliged to pass final examinations. Gerstner also knew from the Journal the curriculum of individual subjects. When drafting his own curriculum for technical university studies in his memorandum and proposal submitted to the Court Study Commission, he let himself be inspired by all those experiences. The first draft for the foundation of a polytechnic for the entire Habsburg monarchy, submitted in 1798, featured approximately the following structure 15 . Gerstner wanted to set up an institute providing two different types of courses, an elementary one and a higher one. The elementary course was
