Josef Hrabák (1833-1921)

Prof. Dr. Ing. Josef Hrabák was born on 13 April 1833 in Sirá near Rokycany.

He was a Czech montanist, university teacher and internationally renowned scientist.

From 1853 to 1856 he graduated from the Mining Academy in Banská Štiavnica. He then joined the state mining company in this Slovak town. In 1862, after mastering the operating practice, he became an assistant professor of mining at the Mining Academy in Leoben, Styria, where he later lectured on technical mathematics and mining engineering as an associate professor. In 1864, he was transferred to the mining plant in Příbram and worked in this Central Bohemian town until his death in 1921. After completing his apprenticeship in the local assembly plant, he was appointed professor of mining and metallurgical engineering at the Mining Academy in Příbram in 1867, where he worked until 1899, serving as director from 1879 to 1880 and from 1885 to 1888. Hrabák's scientific research and literary work includes over 50 book and journal treatises published between 1864 and 1909. He was one of the most renowned European scientists in the field of steam engine theory, mining engineering and mining ropes. He was the author of dictionaries of mining and metallurgical terminology and other works. His works were translated into German, English, Russian. Josef Hrabák was also one of the pioneers of organised Czech tourism.

Prof. Dr. Ing. Josef Hrabák was one of the most prominent personalities of Czech science and technology in the 19th and early 20th century, and he was the highest representative of the only university in the territory of the present-day Central Bohemia Region (the Mining Academy, the Mining University in Příbram). By authoring a German-Czech mining and metallurgical dictionary, he made a major contribution to the creation of Czech technical terminology. He is also closely connected with the Central Bohemian Region through his membership in the Czech Tourist Club and his publishing activities of a local history nature.

He died on 15 July 1921 in Příbram.

Text: PaedDr. Josef Velfl, Director of the Mining Museum Příbram