Prof. JUDr. PhDr. Viktor Dvorský

(*22. 9. 1882 - Praha † 26. 11. 1960 - Praha)

Viktor Dvorský first studied law and completed his studies at Prague University in 1905 with a doctorate in law. He then went on to obtain a doctorate in philosophy (geography) in 1907. From 1909 to 1919 he worked as an assistant under Václav Švambera. In 1910 he was habilitated in the field of anthropogeography on the basis of an extensive study of the Montenegrin-Turkish border. (Later he also became an associate professor of geography at today's Czech Technical University). He travelled, for example, in the Balkan countries and the Alps (he had a penchant for mountaineering). With his study entitled The Borders of Czech Territory, published in the magazine Národ in 1917, he basically outlined the shape of the future Czechoslovakia in terms of its borders. In 1918/19 he was an expert in the negotiations in Paris (in 1919 he participated in the Versailles Peace Conference) and in the same year (1919) he was appointed an extraordinary professor at Charles University. In 1920, he became a full professor at the CTU, i.e. at the University of Commerce, where he was its dean in the academic year 1922/1923 (and also one of its first deans ever). Viktor Dvorský also worked as a deputy Czechoslovak commissioner in the Czechoslovak-Polish Border Commission. In 1928 he became director of the Free School of Political Science and in 1929 full professor of geography at Charles University. The same year (1929) Viktor Dvorský left for London on a business trip, where he was struck by a stroke. Due to this he was excluded from scientific work for the next 30 years of his life and in 1934 he retired. Nevertheless, in 1952, at the age of 70, he was the first geographer to be appointed an academician. Dvorský is considered one of our best economic geographers (anthropogeographers) and at the same time the founder of economic geography (formerly anthropogeorgraphy) in our country. Among his most important works are, for example, the Montenegrin-Turkish border from Bojana to Tara (1909, habilitation). General Human Geography (1910 and 1923), Location of Cities in Bohemia (1916), Territory of the Czech Nation (1918), three-volume textbook General Commercial Geography (1921), Basics of Political Geography and the Czechoslovak State (1923).

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.