This is a partial list of famous Czech people. This list includes people born in Czech lands , people of the Czech nationality as well as people having some significant Czech ancestry or association with Czech culture.
Note: If you wish to add a name to this list, first add it here instead: Biography Stub Factory . This prevents the list from succumbing to a large amount of "red links".
Actors
See Czech actors
Architects and designers
Authors and poets
See Czech writers
Composers
See Czech composers
Other musicians
See Czech musicians
Karel Ančerl , conductorJiří Bělohlávek , conductorGabriela Beňačková , opera singerVictoria Blyth , singerAlfred Brendel , pianistEma Destinnová , opera singerEwa Farna , pop singerMichaela Fukačová , cellistKarel Gott , singerAlice Herz-Sommer , pianistMaria Jeritza , opera singerJiří Jirmal , guitaristMarkéta Irglová , singer, actress, Oscar prize winnerMikolas Josef , pop singerGabriela Gunčíková , pop singerMartina Bárta , pop singerMarta Jandová , pop singerVaclav Noid Barta , pop singerTomas Kalnoky , singer, guitarist and composerKarel Kovařovic , conductorMagdalena Kožená , opera singerAntonín Kraft , cellistIvan Kral , guitarist and singerKarel Kryl , songwriterJan Kubelík , violinistDaniel Landa , singerAneta Langerová , singerFerdinand Laub , violinistJan Antonín Losy , lute playerWaldemar Matuška , singer-songwriter and actorIvan Moravec , pianistIgnaz Moscheles , pianistEduard Nápravník , conductorVáclav Neumann , conductorJaromír Nohavica , guitarist and songwriterJarmila Novotná , opera singerJosef Páleníček , pianistLibor Pešek , conductorKarel Plíhal , guitarist and songwriterDavid Popper , cellistRudolf Serkin , pianistOtakar Ševčík , violinistLeo Slezak , opera singerJiří Stivín , flute playerKarel Strakatý , singerVaclav Talich , conductorVilém Tauský , conductorŠtěpán Rak , guitaristZuzana Růžičková , harpsichordistMiroslav Vitouš , jazzmanAntonín Vranický (also known as Anton Wrani(t)zky), violinistHana Zagorová , singerWojciech Żywny , pianist
Filmmakers
See Czech Film Directors František Čáp , film directorVěra Chytilová ,[ 5] [ 6] Miloš Forman ,[ 6] Karl Freund , film directorJan Hřebejk , film directorJaromil Jireš , film directorElmar Klos , film directorOldřich Lipský , film director, screenwriterJiří Menzel , film director, actorZdeněk Miler , film directorGeorg Wilhelm Pabst , film directorIvan Passer ,[ 7] Jan Pinkava , animator, film directorBřetislav Pojar , film directorAlfréd Radok , film and theatre directorEmil Radok , film directorKarel Reisz , film directorBohdan Sláma , film directorLadislav Smoljak , film directorJan Švankmajer , film director, animatorJan Svěrák , film director, actorJan Tománek , film director, artist and writerJiří Trnka , film director, animatorZdeněk Troška , film director, screenwriterHermína Týrlová , stage designer, cartoonistOtakar Vávra , film directorFrantišek Vláčil , film directorKarel Zeman , film director, animator
Military
Jan Kubiš , paratrooper, the assassination of HeydrichJozef Gabčík , paratrooper, the assassination of Heydrich (Slovak)Josef Bryks , pilotJosef Alexej Eisenberger , World War II generalAlois Eliáš , army officer, member of the Czechoslovak legionJosef František , pilot aceRadola Gajda , army officer, member of the Czechoslovak legionKurt Knispel , German Tank Ace (Sudeten German)Karel Kuttelwascher , general, pilot aceFrantišek Moravec , military intelligence officer, member of the Czechoslovak legion in World War IFrantišek Peřina , pilot aceProkop the Great , Hussite leaderJoseph Radetzky von Radetz , field marshalLudvík Svoboda , general, presidentJan Syrový , general, prime minister, member of the Czechoslovak legionAlbrecht von Wallenstein , warlord during Thirty Years' War Jan Žižka , Hussite leaderOtakar Jaroš , army officer during World War IIKarel Klapálek , army officer during World War II, commander of the Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Battalion and 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps Josef Šnejdárek , soldier of French Foreign Legion, commander of the Czechoslovak army and Czechoslovak legion
Models
See Czech models
Painters
See Czech Painters
Philosophers
See Czech philosophers
Photographers
See Czech photographers
Politicians
Madeleine Albright , first female United States Secretary of State in U.S. historyIvana Bacik , Irish law professor and politician of Czech descentEdvard Beneš , president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938 and again from 1945 to 1948Jerzy Buzek , prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001 and president of the European Parliament 2009 to 2012Charles IV , King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Karl von Czyhlarz , Czech-Austrian juristKlement Gottwald , first communist presidentEmil Hácha , president during the German occupationVáclav Havel , first president after the fall of communism, first president of the independent Czech RepublicMilada Horáková , politician anad activist hanged by the CommunistsOtto Jelinek , former Canadian Federal Cabinet MinisterVáclav Klaus , former prime minister and expresident of the Czech RepublicJuscelino Kubitschek , President of Brazil (1956–1961)Jan Masaryk , foreign ministerTomáš G. Masaryk , first president of Czechoslovakia Mikuláš of Hus , politician, Hussite Emanuel Moravec , collaborator with NazisAntonín Novotný , communist presidentPřemysl Otakar II , King of Bohemia and most powerful man in middle Europe in his eraGeorge of Poděbrady , Hussite kingKarl Renner , Austrian first President after World War IIRudolf II , King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Adolf Schärf , President of AustriaJan Švejnar , US-based, Czech-born economistLudvík Svoboda , communist presidentMirek Topolánek , former Prime MinisterWenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia (Saint Wenceslas, Václav), known as "Good King Wenceslas" in a Christmas carolWenceslaus IV of Bohemia , kingMiloš Zeman , first directly elected president in Czech history
Religion
Josef Beran , cardinalPetr Chelčický , thinker, religious reformerTomáš Halík , catholic theologian, sociologistJan Hus , religious thinker and reformerJudah Loew ben Bezalel , Talmudic scholarTomáš Špidlík , cardinal, thinkerFrantišek Tomášek , cardinal
Saints
Saint Adalbert of Prague (Vojtěch in Czech), bishop of Prague, missionary and martyr
Saint Agnes of Bohemia , Anežka Česká
Saint John of Nepomuk , known through central Europe
Saint John Neumann (John Nepomucene Neumann)
Saint John Sarkander , priest tortured to death in Olomouc
Saint Ludmila , princess of Bohemia, grandmother of St. Wenceslas
Saint Prokop , canon and hermit
Saint Wenceslas , duke of Bohemia
Saint Gorazd (Pavlík) , Eastern Orthodox new martyr, bishop of Prague, and metropolitan of the Czech lands and Slovakia
Sculptors
See Czech sculptors
Scientists
See Czech Scientists
Karel Absolon , archaeologist and speleologistJosef Augusta , paleontologist and popularizer of scienceJiří Baborovský , chemistJindřich Bačkovský , physicistJan Bašta , engineer and researcherEugen Böhm von Bawerk , economistFrantišek Běhounek , radiologist, writer, and explorerVincent Bochdalek , anatomistJohann Böhm , chemistBernard Bolzano , mathematician, philosopher, and theologianOtakar Borůvka , mathematicianJosef Božek engineerEduard Čech , mathematicianFrantišek Čelakovský , linguist and writerVáclav Cílek , geologist and popularizer of scienceJan Amos Comenius , polyhistorian, educator, and the inventor of illustrated textbooks Gerty Cori , biochemist and Nobel Prize laureateCarl Ferdinand Cori , biochemist and Nobel Prize laureateLeander Czerny , biologistVáclav Prokop Diviš , priest, scientist and inventorJosef Dobrovský , philologist and historianKarel Fortyn , physicianSigmund Freud , psychologistFrantišek Josef Gerstner , physicist and engineerKurt Gödel , mathematicianStanislav Grof , psychologist and researcher in transpersonal psychologyPeter Grünberg , physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureateJiří Grygar , astrophysicist, popularizer of scienceJan Hajek , scientistJaroslav Hájek , mathematicianTadeáš Hájek , physician and astronomerLumír Ondřej Hanuš , chemist, co-discovered anandamide , an endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitterFerdinand Ritter von Hebra , dermatologistJaroslav Heyrovský , chemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1959Václav Hlavatý , mathematicianIvan Honl , biologistKamil Hornoch , amateur astronomerBedřich Hrozný , linguistJakub Husnik , inventor and painterJan Janský , physician, discovered blood types Karl Guthe Jansky , engineerVojtěch Jarník , mathematicianKonstantin Jireček , historianOtto Jirovec , parasitologist and protozoologist Georg Joseph Kamel , botanistVlasta Kálalová , physician and entomologistKarel Kavina , botanistJan Kmenta , economist and econometricianLuboš Kohoutek , astronomerFrantišek Koláček , physicistZdenek Kopal , astronomerFrantišek Křižík , an inventor of the arc lamp Bohumil Kučera , physicistJaroslav Kurzweil , mathematicianVáclav Láska , geophysicist and mathematicianMathias Lerch , mathematicianHana Librová , biologistDrahoslav Lím , chemist and the inventor of hydrogel Johann Josef Loschmidt , chemistErnst Mach , physicist and expert in aerodynamics Frank Malina , aeronautical engineer Jan Marek Marci , physicianZdeněk Matějka , chemistGregor Mendel , founder of the science of genetics Antonín Mrkos , astronomerJohann Palisa , astronomerFrantišek Patočka , biologistKarel Petr , mathematicianJosef Ladislav Píč , archaeologistGeorge Placzek , physicistJulius Pokorny , etymologistFerdinand Porsche , automotive engineerKřišťan of Prachatice , medieval astronomer and physicianPetr Pravec , astronomerJan Svatopluk Presl , chemistKarel Presl , botanistStanislaus von Prowazek , zoologist and parasitologistVlastimil Pták , mathematicianJan Evangelista Purkyně , physiologist who first recognised the individuality of fingerprints Zdeněk Rejdák , scientist in psychotronicsJosef Ludvík František Ressel , an inventor of the ship's propeller Karel Rokytanský , anatomistKarel Rychlík , mathematicianVojtěch Šafařík , chemistJaroslav Šafránek , physicistHeinrich Wilhelm Schott , botanistJoseph Schumpeter , economistBohumil Sekla , biologistAlois Senefelder , inventor of the printing technique of lithographyAugust Seydler , physicist and astronomerOta Šik , economistJan Šindel , astronomerJosef Škoda , physicianFerdinand Stoliczka , paleontologistVincenc Strouhal , physicistFrantišek Josef Studnička , mathematicianAntonín Svoboda , computer scientist and mathematicianKarl von Terzaghi , geotechnical engineer and geologistOlga Taussky-Todd , mathematicianJana Tichá , astronomerMiloš Tichý , astronomerViktor Trkal , physicist and mathematicianMiloslav Valouch , mathematicianPetr Vopěnka , mathematicianJindřich Wankel , paleontologistRudolf Weigl , biologistMax Wertheimer , psychologistOtto Wichterle , chemist and the inventor of the modern contact lens Karel Zahradnik , mathematicianRudolf Zahradník , chemistFrantišek Záviška , physicistJohn Zeleny , physicist and the inventor of the electroscope Vladimír Zoubek , geologistPetr Zuman , electrochemist
Guido Adler , musicologistBohuslav Balbín , historianMax Dvořák , art historianEva Hajičová , linguistEduard Hanslick , musicologistAleš Hrdlička , medical doctor, anthropologistBedřich Hrozný , philologist and orientalist (decipherer of Hittite)Konstantin Jireček , slavist, historianJosef Jungmann , linguistHenry Kučera , linguist, cognitive scientist, language software authorBohumil Mathesius , translatorVilém Mathesius , linguistJosef Vratislav Monse , founder of Moravian history-writingJan Mukařovský , literary theoristAlois Musil , orientalist, explorerFrantišek Palacký , historianAntonín Rezek , historianFrantišek Roubík , historianAugust Sedláček , historianPetr Sgall , linguistLukáš M. Vytlačil , historian, flutist and musicologistČeněk Zíbrt , ethnographer, historian
Sports personalities
Entrepreneurs
Jan Antonín Baťa , industrialist (Baťa a.s. , Zlin, Bata Tires, Fatra, Kotva, FAB Zlin (film industry) at Kudlov, ZLAS (Aircraft Otrokovice), ZPA Zlin, ChemoSvit, TatraSvit, Zlin Magazine, founded towns of Batovany (Partizanske), Svit, Batov (Otrokovice))Tomáš Baťa , industrialist (Bata T&A, Zlin)Emil Kolben , industrialist (ČKD )František Křižík , industrialistIgnác Šechtl , pioneer of photography (Šechtl and Voseček )Emil Škoda , industrialist (Škoda Works )
Other
Karel Barvitius , book and music publisherEliška Bučková , Miss Universe 2008 Top 15 finalist (Czech Republic placed for the second consecutive time)Jiří Buquoy , aristocratVlaada Chvatil , board game designerSophie Chotek (1868–-1914), wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, also assassinatedTereza Fajksová (Miss Earth 2012 )Josef Florian , book publisherZdenek Konvalina , ballet dancerMarian Korn (1914–1987), printmakerTaťána Kuchařová (Miss World 2006 )Leopold Lojka (1886–1926), František Josef's driver during the assassinationVictor Lustig , con artistIveta Lutovská , Miss Universe 2009 Top 10 finalist (Czech Republic placed for the third consecutive time)Jaroslav Malina , theatre scenographerJan Opletal , student, shot by GermansJan Palach , student, political activistPřemek Podlaha , TV personalityZdeňka Pokorná , teacher and political activistVladimír Remek , cosmonautSilvie Tomčalová, aka Silvia Saint , adult film star
Oskar Schindler , industrialist who saved 1200 Jewish lives in World War 2Bertha von Suttner , Nobel Peace Prize laureateJan Zajíc , student, political activist, suicideSultanah Nur Diana Petra , Sultanah consort of the Malaysian State of Kelantan
Fictional characters
See also
References
^ a b c d Bloom, Harold (1994). The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages . NY/San Diego/London: Harcourt Brace & Company. p. 558. ISBN 978-1-57322-514-4 ^ Bloom, Harold (1994). "Kafka: Canonical Patience and "Indestructibility"The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages . NY/San Diego/London: Harcourt Brace & Company. pp. 447– 462. ISBN 978-1-57322-514-4 ^ "The Top 100 Books of All Time" . The Guardian. 8 May 2002. Retrieved 31 March 2021 .^ "The 50 Greatest Composers of All Time" . BBC Music Magazine. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021 .^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2004). Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons . Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 416– 417. ISBN 0-8018-7840-3 ^ a b Hillier, Jim (ed.). "Cahiers du Cinéma Annual Best Films Listings 1960-68". Cahiers du Cinéma: 1960-1968: New Wave, New Cinema, Reevaluating Hollywood . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 332– 333. ISBN 0-674-09062-4 ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (2004). Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons . Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 420. ISBN 0-8018-7840-3