Příspěvek ke studiu života lékaře-badatele v Čechách – Lodin Zdeněk (2011)

In his humorously toned narrative, which spans a wide timeframe (from 1952 to 1989), the author, Prof. MUDr. Zdeněk Lodin, reminisces about the founding period of one of the biological institutes of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he himself spent nearly fifty years of his professional career as a researcher. It is an entertaining depiction of the everyday life of a laboratory engaged in medical research. The specific subject of research is not the main focus here; the author deliberately places it in the background, primarily aiming to enlighten readers about the secrets of the research profession and capture the atmosphere of this extraordinary workplace. In the individual stories, authentic personalities who worked at the institute appear under their real names, allowing both contemporaries and younger workers to familiarize themselves with the difficulties and challenges faced by their colleagues and teachers. The narrative is set during the time when the scientific institutes of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences were being established, later extending to the end of the 1960s and finally to the years of normalization. Thus, the years of maturation and the first creative successes fall within a totalitarian period. Without trivializing the challenging times of that era, the reader is not burdened with profound analyses of directive-led science. Instead, they will find a narrative that addresses even the...