He had taught for over 30 years at the UCLA where he had molded the minds of over 13,000 students. In 2001 he received the Nusle prize for his life works…. Miroslav Plavec was one of the front astronomers of the 20th century. His early works dealt with meteor showers, but he is also widely known for his studies of close binaries, especially of mass transfer in binary systems. Plavec was born in Sedlcany in 1925. During the Nazi occupation Miroslav’s father was arrested and taken to the concentration camp where he had died 6 months later. Being the oldest sibling, Miroslav became the head of the family and decided to move with his mother and a younger brother to Ondrejov, a home of the Ondrejov’s observatory. He studied the Natural Sciences at the Charles University in Prague. When the Russians came to occupy Prague in 1968 Plavec’s whole family left Czechoslovakia in hope for a better future. First they went to Canada and later settled down in California where he just recently (January 23rd of this year) passed away. The BBC interviewed Plavec in 2001 and I picked out some interesting highlights from it:
How did you end up with astronomy?
When I was 13 years old I liked many things, mainly history and geography. One day in 1938 I happen to read an article about Jupiter and how it was supposed to be seen in the skies the next day. Well, on that night I went out to look for it but it was cloudy so I didn’t see anything. But I knew one thing: I wanted to be an astronomer.
Earlier you were commenting on the terrible shape in which the Charles University educational system was as far as astronomy goes.Why?
Well first of all, the university had only one professor of astronomy and he kept recommending us to study this manual from 1896! So much for learning about modern astronomy…That is why, whatever I learned, I learned on my own.
Why did you decide to emigrate?
We knew that after the Soviet occupation there was no future neither for me nor for my wife or kids. It was very hard for us to leave our home country though.
Why did you decide to go to America?
I didn’t want to go to Germany since I have a very bad memories of my father dying in the concentration camp there. I hav been to England before but didn’t like it too much. America was just “calling my name”. I was lucky to be already somewhat famous in my field and that is why I did get invited to various places all over the US but once I got invited to L.A. I gladly went.
You are still teaching, right?
Yes, and I am very proud of it (76 years old). The good thing is that my specialty of planetary astrophysics has not been “in” for a while so there is no other candidate for my spot and that’s why I have already prolonged my teaching contract for next year.
How much are Americans interested in astronomical studies?
Every year we have 4-20 students sign up for astronomy classes. The interest varies greatly from year-to-year.
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 was it hard for you to resist the new job offers that had opened up in the Czech Republic?
No, I have already settled in California. I really like it here, I am a known personality among the University staff and both of my kids are married here. I am not going to leave my family if grandchildren are the most valuable thing one can ever have. It is incredible how quickly they (grandchildren) can learn to use their words – they hear one day and start using it the next day. It really is an unexplainable miracle that such intelligent life was created on this planet.
How do you explain miracles?
I don’t because I can’t. Everywhere we look are just stars – the dead matter. There are 9 planets in the whole solar system. Mars may have some kind of microorganisms on it; Venus is developmentally far behind Earth but it is possible that some life will develop there later and who knows, that’s where the humans will be moving to in the future. But that’s about it as far as life is concerned.
In your interview with Lidove noviny you voiced your opinion on the faulty information that is being used in various science fiction movies such as Star Wars. You also said you cannot watch any of it. Why?
I tried but I couldn’t. Why can’t any of these fancy movie makers come to my Astronomy 101 class or at least read some books on it and then let their fantasy go loose? The stuff that I have tried to watcha and read was such nonsense that I just couldn’t make myself to like it…
What would be life without astronomy?
Not much different 🙂
Sources:
http://krajane.radio.cz/cs/article_detail/1208
http://www.bbc.co.uk/czech/interview/plavec.htm
http://www.klet.org/names/view.php3?astnum=6076
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