Prof. RNDr. Jaromír Korčák

(*12. 7. 1895  – Vrážné, ob. Svitavy   † 6. 10. 1989 – Praha)

Jaromír Korčák , the son of a head teacher, after studying at the high school in Jevíček, studied geography and natural history at the University of Prague. Subsequently, he worked at the State Statistical Office, where, coincidentally, the founder of Czechoslovak demography, A. Boháč. Allegedly due to his influence, Korčák turned to demography and population geography. Korčák is also said to have been influenced by the physicist Václa Láska, thanks to whom he began to make greater use of mathematical and statistical methods in geography. However, he also attended diplomatic school in Prague. In 1930 Korčák was to help organize the census. After the Second World War, Korčák began to study at the University of Politics, from which he was asked to join the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in 1951. In the same year Korčák is appointed professor. After the geography department was divided, in 1953 Jaromír Korčák became head of the Department of Economic and Regional Geography (1951-1960), which he allegedly built "from nothing" and also headed the National Geographical Committee. He retired in 1966, but even after that he continued to work in geography. He died at the blessed age of 94. His most important works include: The Depopulation of South Bohemia (1929), Studies on the Theory of Nationalities (1931), Geographical Foundations of Czechoslovakia, Its Tribal Areas (1938), Geography of Population in Statistical Synthesis (1973).

Sources:

MARTÍNEK, Jiří. Geographers in the Czech Lands 1800-1945: (biographical dictionary). Prague: Historical Institute, 2008, 245 p. ISBN 978-80-7286-133-0.

MARTÍNEK, Jiří and MARTÍNEK, Miloslav. Who was who. 1st ed. Prague: Libri, 1998, 509 p. ISBN 80-85983-50-8.

HROMÁDKA, Jan. On the sixtieth birthday of Dr. Jaromír Korčák. 1955, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 271-277.