Physics is considered to be the basis of technical sciences. It is the driving force behind innovation and inventions, and knowledge based on physics is the key to success in almost all branches of science and technology. Physics forms background for applications in many non-technical fields, such as biology, physiology or medicine.
General physics is prescribed for the study of engineering, medicine, chemistry, biology and other disciplines, because it creates a framework on which other sciences can reliably build. It´s because, solid mastery of the basic principles of physics and mastering the physics-based way of thinking helps in the study of other disciplines.
With this in mind, physics was included in the study program right at the establishment of the University of Chemical Technology (predecessor of the current Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Pardubice – FChT) in 1950. In the first years, teaching was provided by the Department of Mathematics and Physics (under the guidance of prof. V. Santholzer). Later, the Department of Physics became independent and successfully developed, in addition to pedagogical activities, also scientific research activities, gradually under the leadership of doc. J. Kašpar (1952-1975), prof. V. Husa (1975-1988), prof. F. Kosek (1988-1993) and prof. Z. Cimpl (1993-2001). However, its position has been specific in that it does not educate its own graduates. Its basic task is to provide students with a professional basis for studying other disciplines. Nevertheless, a number of students from other departments have prepared their diploma theses under the guidance of teachers of the Department of Physics, and this possibility continues.
At the beginning of the 1990 s, the Department of Physics was temporarily transferred for purely formal organizational reasons to then the newly established Faculty of Economics and Administration. It did not return to the FChT framework until 1996. At the beginning of 2009, a department for teaching mathematics was created within the department and the department was renamed the Institute of Applied Physics and Mathematics (ÚAFM).
Shortly after the establishment of the department and the stabilization of the teaching staff, scientific work also began to develop, especially in the field of preparation and research of the properties of crystalline and amorphous semiconductor materials, interference filters. Because in the specific conditions of the 1950 s to 1980 s, successful research was often conditioned by the construction and implementation of its home-made devices, the department also engaged in this activity. Apparatus for the preparation and processing of single crystals, for measuring transport, magnetic and optical properties were successfully implemented. The staff of the department also successfully participated in cooperation with industrial companies, which involved, for example, the development of thermoindicative coatings, optical filters, anti-reflective layers, photoemulsions, radiographic plates, corrosion inhibitors, etc.
At present, the main program of the institute is research on the properties of semiconductors and methods of their preparation, especially materials suitable for thermoelectric applications (Ing. Jiří Navrátil, CSc., PhD., Ing. Patrik Čermák, Ph.D., Ing. Kateřina Čermák Šraitrová, Mgr. J. Kašparová, PhD., J. Dařbujan and prof. Ing. Č. Drašar. Dr. (CEMNAT)). In limited extent there is investigated the structure of polymeric materials and biological systems at high pressures (doc. RNDr. M. Steinhart, CSc.). Conditions were created for research on the properties of materials using ellipsometry in wide spectral range (doc. Mgr. J. Mistrík, PhD., doc. RNDr. P. Janíček, PhD.). Due to the interdisciplinary nature of these fields, the research is carried out in cooperation with other FChT workplaces (CEMNAT, KOAnCh, SLPChL), the institutes of AV ČR (FzÚ, ÚMCH) and a number of workplaces abroad (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, USA).
List of academic staff of the institute (department) who participated in its activities in the past:
doc. Mgr. Dušan Bednařík, Ph.D., prof. Ing. Pavel Bezoušek, CSc.; RNDr. Josef Brýdl; prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Cimpl, CSc.; doc. RNDr. Josef Čermák, CSc.; doc. RNDr. Karel Čermák, CSc.; doc. RNDr. Václav Černý, CSc; prof. Ing. Č. Drašar. Dr., prof. Ing. Dr. Václav Husa, DrSc.;Dr. Eng. Lubos Hach, Ph.D.; prof. RNDr. Marie Kaplanová, CSc.; doc. Ing. Simeon Karamazov, Dr.; doc. RNDr. Josef Kašpar; prof. RNDr. František Kosek, DrSc.; RNDr. Mojmír Machovec; Ing. Milan Pavel, prof. Ing. Slavomír Pirkl, CSc., CSc., prof. Dr. V. Santholzer; RNDr. Jaromír Sladký; doc. Ing. Miloš Titz, CSc., RNDr. Jiří Tulka, CSc.
(former heads of the Department of Physics are shown in bold)
