Page - 199 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

Chapter 5 ♦  199 anatomist Andrzej/Ondřej Obrzut, who had studied in Galicia but habilitated in Prague, was the only Polish scholar at the Czech University in Prague. The Ruthenian Horbačevs’kyj was nominated in 1882 owing to a lack of qualified scholars in medical chemistry, as mentioned earlier; not only was he unable to speak Czech, but he was also the only Ruthenian appointed.103 The case of Josef Rohon shows how cultural and academic appropriate- ness was a contested issue in Bohemia. Rohon was born in Transleithania to a Slovak Protestant family.104 After studying and working in Vienna and Munich, he unsuccessfully tried to achieve a tenured position in the Habsburg, German, and Russian Empires. He himself credited his lack of success to the “negative networks” he had in Vienna, which haunted him throughout his life. His frequent changes of workplace resulted primarily from failure to secure a position with longer-term prospects. In the insti- tutions where he did stay, his main roles were either temporarily renewed assistant positions or similarly uncertain scholarships or travel allowances. He also earned additional money as a contract supplier of microscopic preparations and in his later years worked mostly with the Imperial St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society (Императорское Санкт-Петербургское минералогическое общество). Albert was also for several years a financial sponsor for Rohon, who had even asked him directly for support in gaining a position “in his [Rohon’s] homeland.”105 In 1895 Rohon, then fifty years old, was one of the candidates for the chair of embryology and histology in Prague, proposed, unsurprisingly, by Albert’s students. The faculty majority, however, clearly favored local schol- ars, who were, however, not specialists in this discipline. While the minority stressed that Rohon was the only qualified candidate and, as a Slovakian, was able to speak Czech, the majority defended the qualities of the other candidates and voiced concerns about Rohon’s capabilities because, in the first place, he had not achieved a Habsburg doctoral degree despite writing his dissertation in Vienna. Second, there were serious concerns about his ability to speak Czech, which was attested only by Albert and not confirmed by his publications. The faculty questioned the authority of Albert in this case, stating that his opinions were not binding in Prague as he was a mem- ber of a “foreign faculty” (Mitglied fremder Fakultät) and furthermore was a surgeon and not a specialized histologist.106 Although this was one of the few cases when a non-Czech was ap- pointed, Rohon exemplifies what scholars working at the Czech University were supposed to do: participate in Czech scholarly life and educate Czech successors. Rohon did both effectively: he was a member of several