The exhibition at the Centre of Building Heritage in Plasy commemorates the National Technical Museum with an important pioneer of rockets and space flight.
Ludvík Očenášek is rightfully one of only two Czechs who are listed in the United States Space Flight Pioneers Hall of Fame, but few people in the Czech Republic know his name. This year, as we celebrate the 145th anniversary of his birth (4 August 1872-10 August 1949), the National Technical Museum wants to awaken interest in his person with a new exhibition dedicated to his life and inventions. It is no coincidence that the exhibition is on display in Plasy. Ludvík Očenášek’s childhood and the end of his life are linked to the surroundings of Plasy – Dolní Běla, Malenica and Dražná.
“When I became acquainted with the life of Ludvík Očenášek, ” reflects Michal Plavec, the author of the exhibition and the publication, “the heroes of J. Verne’s novels came to mind, both in terms of their technical ingenuity and their personal attitudes. Indeed, Ludvík Očenášek admits that he was inspired by them. He took the untrodden, unexplored paths of science and technology, succeeded in some ways, failed in others.” He began by manufacturing bicycles, developed his own rotary automobile and aircraft engine in 1906, and found success with improvements to the arc lamp. In 1910 he designed his own airplane. During the First World War he joined the ranks of the Maffie resistance organisation, which fought for the independence of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia from the Habsburg monarchy. At the end of this war he found, for example, a telephone line in Prague between the war ministries in Berlin and Vienna. He successfully intercepted the calls. For his work he was awarded the Czechoslovak Revolutionary Medal 1918. In the interwar period he was engaged in the construction of rockets, which he successfully launched at the end of January and at the very beginning of March 1930. He was convinced that it was not a question of whether man would get into space, but when. He was 31 years away from realizing this dream. In the 1930s, he and his son Miroslav also perfected the so-called hydrodynamic boat, which propelled a stream of water launched against the direction of the ship’s motion. It was characterised by its low draught. He also filed other improvement proposals and patent applications. In May 1945, at the age of 72, he was severely wounded while fighting on the barricades near the radio building. Ludvík Očenášek was an inventor, putting not only his whole heart but also his capital into his experiments. He went bankrupt several times during his lifetime, fate did not favour him in business. When he died in 1949 in Dražnia, the news of his death was reported in such newspapers as The New York Times and The Washington Post. Throughout his life he remained a loyal patriot and a member of the Sokol gymnastic union.“It is a paradox”, adds Michal Plavec,“that Ludvík Očenasek’s name is commemorated in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington and in the Hall of Fame of the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, United States of America, but in his native country, to which he sacrificed so much, his person is unfortunately rather forgotten ”
With an exhibition dedicated to Ludvík Očenášek, the National Technical Museum is attempting to rectify at least part of this reality in its Plasy Centre for Building Heritage. In addition to the exhibition, it is also publishing a monograph of the same name on the life of Ludvík Očenášek. Its author is Michal Plavec, curator of the National Technical Museum’s aviation collection, and the publication was co-authored by the town of Plasy and the company Lesy České republiky. The National Museum also participated in the preparation of the exhibition.
The exhibition will run from 13 May to 26 November 2017 at the National Technical Museum in the Centre of Building Heritage Plasy.
