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Sculptor, representative of the interwar avant-garde.

A new exhibition at Prague’s Academy of Sciences marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Otto Wichterle, the great Czech chemist who invented modern soft contact lenses in the mid 1950s. While a close collaborator later moved to the West, Wichterle stayed in Czechoslovakia, despite being persecuted by the Communists. He never made a cent from his invention, as the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences had sold his patent to a U.S. firm. However, he didn’t mind not profiting personally, says Professor František Rypáček, who knew him.

An exhibition linked to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the inventor of the soft contact lens, Otto Wichterle, has got underway at the Academy of Sciences in Prague. The famous Czech chemist, who was born in Prostějov, South Moravia on 27 October 1913, produced the first contact lenses in the early 1960s on an apparatus made from a Merkur children’s building kit. The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS) sold the patent to an American company and actual mass production of contacts began in the US. Wichterle himself became head of the CSAS after the Velvet Revolution.

Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the death of the Czech scientist Otto Wichterle, inventor of modern soft contact lenses. Wichterle, who was born in Prostějov, South Moravia in 1913, produced the first contact lenses in the early 1960s on an apparatus made from a Merkur children’s building kit. The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CSAS) sold the patent to an American company and actual mass production of contacts began in the US. Wichterle himself became head of the CSAS after the Velvet Revolution.

An exhibition titled Czech inventors and inventions is currently underway at the National Museum in Prague. It introduces visitors to the life and work of more than 20 Czech or Czech-born inventors who made their mark in the world. The exhibition covers achievements in many fields of human activity - engineering, medicine, agriculture, biology, chemistry, as well as in the humanities. But you will also find curious and somewhat absurd creations which never went beyond the prototype stage. I asked Pavel Douša, who heads the museum’s cultural heritage

Today in Mailbox: Response to former Prime Minister’s new political party, your answers to last month’s mystery Czech quiz question. Listeners quoted: Lynda-Marie Hauptmann, Peter Komrska, Chun-quan Meng, Jayanta Chakrabarty, Bibi N-Shah, Barbara M. Ziemba, Ian Morrison, Colin Law, Charles Konecny, David Eldridge.

Many generations of Czech children have dreamt of finding this item underneath their Christmas tree. It was true for decades that when you said the word Merkur to a child in this country the first thing they thought of was not the planet Mercury, nor the Roman god, but a metal construction set, similar to the British Meccano or the American Erector Set.

Millions of people around the world could not imagine their life without modern contact lenses. But few of them know that the man who invented them was professor Otto Wichterle, an outstanding Czech chemist who had many notable achievements to his name, and died in 1998. This week academics and scientists from around the Czech Republic gathered outside the Prague Institute of Macro-Molecular Chemistry for the unveiling of a monument to one of the great minds of the last century.

Last week, the Czech Academy of Sciences awarded outstanding young researchers with the Wichterle Prize, named after Czech chemist Otto Wichterle, the inventor of the contact lenses. Seventeen young men and four young women received the awards for their outstanding achievement in the fields of science and humanities. The awards which are now in their forth year also go with a financial reward.

In today's Czech Science we take a look at the latest news in research and development in the Czech Republic - Brno Technical University developing new space satellit, cave divers prove connection between Macocha Abyss and Punkva River, Widow of hydrogel inventor demands justice for late husband.