Ludvík Očenášek, inventor and patriot – from bicycles to spacerockets

Ludvík Očenášek is one of only two Czechs (the other one being Vladimír Mandl) who are deservedly regarded as pioneers of astronautics by the global public.

However, this was not the only field of Očenášek’s activity. Očenášek’s perspicaciousness led him to unexplored areas; he was also engaged in arch lamps and lighting bodies in general, the development of aircraft engines and aeroplanes, the project of a reaction-propelled hydrodynamic boat, and later even in devices for filling boxes with pills during industrial production.

Očenášek’s work did not fall into oblivion. Ludvík Očenášek as the pioneer of astronautics is commemorated at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington and in the Hall of Fame in the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, United States of America. But in his native country, Očenášek’s name remains more or less forgotten.

The exhibition from 13. May to 26 November 2017.