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
designed to match subjects taught at Prague University's Faculty of Philosophy, while the higher course consisted of solely technical subjects. The higher course was to form an independent school - the polytechnic. The elementary course was based on natural science subjects. Gerstner's project actually provided for the formation of a natural science collection and a botanical garden available to students. For mathematics students he proposed the establishment of a collection of physics models and instruments and machinery. As for Gerstner's higher course, he argued that in addition to university theology, law and medicine, there were also the so called professional sciences, which deserved to be studied independently. Such courses existed elsewhere in the world and partially also in the Czech lands, particularly in military engineering, mining sciences, science on naval ports, ship-building etc. But institutes specializing in industrial and general technical studies were still nonexistent. That was why the new school's curriculum was to include the following specific subjects 16 . 1. three subjects from natural history: mineralogy, botany and zoology; 2. three subjects from chemistry: on salts and soil varieties, on products of livestock and plant origin and on pigments, on metals and their melting; 3. three subjects from mathematics: on infinitesimal calculus and its application in geometry, on analytical mechanics of solid and liquid bodies and on astronomy, chronology, geography and nautical science; 4. three subjects from draughtsmanship and building: descriptive geometry and machine drawing, civil and water engineering and draughtsmanship; 5. one subject from empirical mechanics whose teacher was to be in charge of the collection of machinery and had to design models. Only highly competent and recommended experts were to be selected as teachers at the school. For each subject one lecturer was to be appointed. He would be given an adequate post (the title of a government councillor) and an adequate salary. Successful candidates were to be rotated so as not to lose interest in scientific research. Five artisans, a joiner, glass cutter, mechanic in charge of physics and mathematics instruments, a watchmaker and a modeller in stucco, were to be employed in the model-making section. Students applying for the school were expected to pass an entrance examination in subjects lectured at the Faculty of Philosophy in the mathematics and natural science branches. Once at the school,' students were free to change their branches at will but had to respect a core of compulsory subjects spread over a three-year course. The main stress was laid on students' practical work, on their skills in arithmetics and drawing, chemical analyses and mechanical work. Practical training was to be provided under the guidan-
