8.7. 1847 František Křižík was born

He was the first to light up Prague's square with electric light. The name of František Křižík is associated in Bohemia with the idea of an electric century, like Edison's in America.

František Křižík was an important Czech engineer, industrialist and inventor. He was born in Stádlec near Tabor. He graduated from the Czech Real School in Prague, but he couldn't afford to pay for the matriculation exam. However, as he was very talented, Professor Václav Zenger admitted him to the Prague Technical School as an exceptional student.

"He had to alternate between studying engineering and working in a factory. Soon he entered the state service and was employed by various Austrian and Hungarian railway companies, where he reached the position of telegraph foreman. Here he built numerous transport safety measures," Karel Kýr writes in his book 40 Trips into History.

Křižík invented many useful devices. The most important invention was the improved arc lamp, originally invented by the Russian inventor Yablokoff. "Křižík opened a workshop in Pilsen to manufacture these lamps and received a number of international awards. He also won contracts for street lighting. Like Edison, however, he believed in the future of direct current," write Michal Vaněček and Václav Ráž in their book What a Good Czech Should Know.

At the Paris World Exhibition, Křižík was the only Austrian exhibitor to receive the first prize with a gold medal. Similarly, Křižák's arc lamp was awarded at the Munich, Vienna and other exhibitions, and spread the name of the Czech nation and its engineers all over the world.

In 1884, Křižík opened his own factory in Karlín, which grew in a few years into a leading company. He was the first to light up Prague's square with electric light, and it was he who conjured up the cups at the Jubilee Exhibition.he installed the first Prague electric railway, the lighting of the National Theatre and numerous Czech towns. His name is associated in Bohemia with the idea of an electric century, like Edison's in America and Siemens' in Germany.

However, he was beaten in the competition to build the Prague power station in Holešovice by a competitor fifteen years his junior, Emil Kolben, who won with the AC concept, which has many advantages such as voltage transformation and has therefore survived to this day. This defeat resulted in the loss of contracts for František Křižík. The distraught inventor gradually retreated into seclusion. He died at the age of 94 and is buried in Vyšehrad cemetery.

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