Tadeáš Hájek from Hájek was born

He became the personal physician of Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II. The latter made Thaddeus of Hajek the head of alchemical workshops. He also wrote several valuable works. He was born on 1 December 1525.

Tadeáš Hájek of Hájek was a native of Prague, he studied astronomy and medicine in Vienna, mathematics in Bologna and Milan, and after his return to Bohemia he lectured in mathematics at Charles University. He became the personal physician of Emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II. The latter even elevated him to the status of nobility.

Rudolf II made him head of the alchemical workshops. He needed someone respected to work with the Prague alchemists. He was often confronted by impostors, but he was a scientist himself. For example, he wrote a book called On Comets.

Hájek also published the well-known Mattioli's herbarium in Czech with an extended section on hops. "Hájek was in contact with contemporary brewers, and he compiled his experience into a Latin publication, De cerevisia ejusque conficiendi ratione, natura, viribus et facultatibus (On beer, its methods of preparation).its nature, powers and effects, published in Frankfurt am Main in 1584," writes Ladislav Chládek in his book entitled Brewing.

The Czech translation of this book was published in the brewing trade journal Kvas in 1878. In this book, he presents the technology of malt and beer production, and has already dealt timelessly with the problems of processing brewery waste, even with the health effects of beer. This Latin publication is undoubtedly the first on beer published in Bohemia, but probably also the first publication of its kind in the world.

Throughout his life until his death in 1600, Tadeáš Hájek of Hájek otherwise enjoyed great esteem and respect not only as an excellent astronomer and mathematician, but above all as an excellent physician.

"He was the last multifaceted physician of the Renaissance spirit, who also mastered botany and collaborated with Tycho Brahe, as well as, for example, writing about brewing beer. Like him, every contemporary post-medical practitioner should be an expert in many fields," write the authors of Post-Medical Appraisal Medicine.

Thaddeus Hajek of Hajek was married three times and had three sons and a daughter. He also served as the chief physician of the imperial army that fought the Turks. His name was placed under the windows of the National Museum among the seventy-two names of Czech history.

Sources.