Prof. PhDr. Jiří Viktor Daneš

(*23.8.1880  - Nový Dvůr u Kladna, dnes Pavlov u Unhoště   †11. 4. 1928 – Los Angeles)

After graduating from the grammar school on the Lesser Side, he came to study history and geography at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in 1898. He also worked as an assistant to Jan Palacký. Throughout his life - from his youth he travelled very often. In 1902 he received his doctorate and in Sofia he met Belgrade professor Jovan Cvijić.In 1903-1904 he studied briefly at the University of Berlin. In the autumn of 1904, he was the only representative of Czech geography to attend the 8th International Geography Conference. He was the only Czech geography student at the International Geographical Congress in Washington. Subsequently, Daneš travelled through the northeastern part of the United States. In 1906, he was appointed associate professor of general geography (Introduction of the Lower Neretva River) at the Charles University and subsequently travelled through Germany and France to Havana. In Mexico he then attended another international congress, this time on geology. In the academic year 1907/8 he worked at the Commercial Academy in Prague 2 (in 1907 he also became an associate professor at the Czech Technical College).  In 1908 he lectured on the Jamaican Karst at the International Congress of Geographers in Geneva. In 1912 Daneš was appointed an extraordinary professor of geography at Charles University and in 1919 he became a full professor. In 1920-22, Jiří Viktor Daneš even held the post of consul in Sydney. After returning from his travels in Australia, China and Japan, Daneš again began to devote more time to his teaching work. In the academic year 1925-26 he served as Dean of the Faculty of Science of Charles University. On 29 October 1927, he and his wife set off on their travels again, this time to North America. However, on 11 April, while photographing oil rigs near Hollywood, he was hit by a passing car and succumbed to the consequences of the accident. Viktor Daneš was an outstanding geographer of international level and an excellent teacher. The main theme of his geographical works was the karst. However, his works in the field of population geography are also valuable. His most important works include, for example, Die westherzegowinische Kryptodepression (1905), Das Karstgebiet Goenoeng Sewoe in Java (1915), Introduction to the Geomorphology of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus (1920), The Origin and Extinction of the Aborigines in Australia and Oceania (1924), The Gradient Curves of the Tributaries of the Vltava River in the Prague Area (1927), and his dissertation The Population Density in Herzegovina (1902).

Sources:

HÄUFLER, Vlastislav. Geschichte der Geographie an der Karls-Universität. 1st edition: Charles University, 1967, 421 p.

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.