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Department in briefLast update: |
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Brief characterization
The department was founded in 1960 after splitting of the Department of Experimental Physics and Teaching Methodology of Physics. It came into existence as a ``Department of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy'' and it guaranteed the teaching of all fields of theoretical physics: analytical mechanics, astronomy, theory of relativity, electromagnetic-field theory, quantum and statistical physics. The staff participated in teaching both in technical and pedagogical branches and at the same time were involved in the scientific research which can be illustrated by publications cited even nowadays. In 1971, in the time of so called ``normalization'', the department was disbanded from purely political reasons.
The department reappeared immediately after the November 1989 - in January 1990. There are also two public astronomical observatories in Olomouc-Slavonin and Losov under the management of the department. They serve for teaching astronomy as well as for the public visitors. Slavonin is also a place of regular meteorological observations the results of which are provided to the international meteorological network.
Nowadays the staff consists of 10 members and 4 internal postgraduate students. The department established fruitful contacts with other institutions, namely with the departments of General Physics and Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Masaryk University in Brno, with the Institute of Physics of the Silesian University in Opava, with the Institute of Physics of Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Ondøejov, the Bogoljubov Institute for Theor. Phys. (Ukraine), Universities in Chengd (China), Bayreuth, Jena and Rostock (Germany) and in Carbondale (USA).
Activities
- pedagogical
- courses of theoretical physics in both technical and pedagogical branches
- tutorial leadership for students working on their theses
- membership in examination boards for final state examinations and entrance examinations for PGS
- work with talented secondary school students within the framework of Olympiad in physics and correspondence seminar
- scientific
- Scientific interests of the department cover various fields of theoretical physics and are influenced by the collaboration with other institutions. Some papers of the staff are presented at various conferences and published in prestigious physical journals, e.g.. Physical Review, Physics Letters, Journal of Physics A.