Václav Cílek


Václav Cílek is Czech geologist, climatologist, writer, philosopher, science popularizer and translator of Tao and Zen texts.

Biography

In his youth, Cílek moved to Tanzania, where his father worked as a geologist. From 1969 to 1970, he studied at a high school in Tanzania. Later he continued his studies at the Mining Technical School in Příbram. In 1979 he graduated in geology from the Charles University in Prague. Since 1980, he works in Geologic Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences and specializes on geology of Cenozoic Era. He also explores interactions between environment and civilization. Between 2004 and 2012, he was the director of the Geologic Institute of Czech Academy of Science.
Cílek also published several popularization books and many articles in journals and newspapers. During his career, he collaborated with Hospodářské noviny, Lidové noviny, Mladá fronta DNES, Mladý svět, Právo, Reflex, Respekt, Czech Television, Czech Radio etc. He was a co-creator of the TV series about caves of the Czech Republic, called Podzemní Čechy.
In 2004, Cílek was awarded Tom Stoppard Prize for his books Krajiny vnitřní a vnější and Makom: Kniha míst. Additionally, he was named Laureate by the Minister of Ecology for "valuable contribution to the popularization of Czech science, especially geology and climatology". In 2009, he was awarded the Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize.

Works