History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences II (1963–1970)

The second volume of the history of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (ČSAV) focuses on the period when the institution was headed by chemist František Šorm. The 1960s were associated with the easing of political control, the growth of civil society, and the increasing openness to impulses from Western society. The ČSAV fully embraced these changes, and for many disciplines, the 1960s represented a golden era of development. At the same time, it was a period of significant internal reforms within the Academy and a time of searching for a new position for this foremost Czechoslovak non-university research institution in society amid economic crises and fundamental economic reforms. In the difficult and turbulent period of the late 1960s, the ČSAV, along with its staff and leadership, generally managed to uphold its integrity, even though this meant that the institution fell out of favour with those in power as one of the “centres of counter-revolution”.