Jitka Brůnová - Lachman, a native of Olomouc and her - Silent Echoes of Light

Jitka Brůnová - Lachman, a native of Olomouc, is an extraordinary personality, dealing with mathematical sciences, including quantum physics, where she belongs to the international top of the club of the chosen ones. The old opinion that people with a love for mathematics are, so to speak, dry people, with whom ordinary citizens find it difficult to communicate, is fully refuted by the following lines presented by a sociable lady with a sense of humour, who likes literature, classical music and fine arts. She herself is a great artistic talent and has exhibited her paintings at home and abroad, including overseas. In addition, she expresses herself successfully and sophisticatedly in the written word, as evidenced by her extensive autobiographical book, or the poetry she also enjoys writing.

Please meet

Mrs Brůnová's biography and professional and artistic activities would make a novel. We must be content with a short curriculum vitae.
RNDr. Jitka Brůnová-Lachmann is a mathematician, physicist, poet and painter. Born in 1944 in Prostějov, she lives and works in Olomouc. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Science at Palacký University and a member of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists, where she is a long-time member of the executive board. She is a regular participant in international scientific conferences in the Czech Republic and abroad, and regularly exhibits her paintings related to the subject on these special occasions. Jitka Brůnová's paintings have been included in the publications of SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics in the USA). It is not without interest that she paints paintings for selected Nobel Prize winners. RNDr. Brůhová collaborates with prominent scientists and artists, and is also friends with many of them. In 2024, she received the prestigious Kalos Agathos Award, which is given for exceptional actions and contributions in the field of ethics, moral values and general welfare.

Two hundred pages, thirteen chapters with photo documentation, many illustrations by the author

After an introductory word by the editor of the book, Milan Švihálek, who is, so to speak, tuned to the same wave as Jitka Brůnová-Lachman, a readable text starts to unfold, full of memories, events and experiences of how time and the life of the author with Celtic roots went, as she writes in the first line of the first chapter of Monogram in the Bark. The first written mention of her ancestors dates from 1766. And the eight-decade-long thread of the fate of first a girl, then...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. The rich, eventful and character-rich text is certainly not boring. Every page of the long list of chapters is very readable. Moreover, it is accompanied by period pictures from the family album.

The third chapter begins with her detachment from her parents, entering high school and then coming to university, where she shines in the national university competition SVOĆ in Prague, which seemed to predetermine Jitka Brůnová's further interest and professional development.
The narrative is becoming more and more interesting even for uninterested readers. People familiar with the subject and the person of Jitka Brůnová will literally enjoy it, often even laugh. We could go on like this throughout the entire content. What is certain, however, is that the text grows in technical interest and graduates from passages devoted to the love of painting and the author's work and her exhibitions, including memories of the people around her. Among other things, the memory of the poet Jan Skácel, who enriched Jitka Brůnová's perception of beauty and poetry, is amazing - that is why each of the book's chapters is introduced by Jitka's successful verses.

Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists

„I have been a member of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists since 1976. My ID number is 3683. I received the honorary recognition in 1987. Since 1993 I have been a deserving member of this society...“, Jitka Brůnová confides to her readers at the beginning of the tenth chapter of her autobiography Silent Echoes of Light and thus introduces us to the exciting, but for the layman mysterious world of a specific science. This makes the continuing recollection of the events and personalities around us all the more thrilling. Especially when we sometimes catch the author in the wrong. No less interesting is the description of personal achievements, first stays abroad. The door to the world was wide open for Jitka Brůnová and she still uses it diligently during her work and private trips out of the country. At the end of the book, the author again returns to her painting work, commenting on many of her paintings in an almost philosophical manner. Any art historian should take a cue from this, and many curators can learn from Brůnová's juicy and concise text how to comment on the works they exhibit.

The thirteenth chapter of the book is symbolically dedicated to thirteen personalities who influenced Jitka Brůnová. A few names for all of them:
Writer Jarmila Loukotová, Doc. Ing. Štefan Zajac, CSc., President of the Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists. Prof. Antonín Schindler, Dr.h.c., composer, organist and promoter of sacred music, Prof. PhDr. František Dvořák, DrSc., art historian, critic, pedagogue or Prof. RNDr. Jan Peřina, DrSc., quantum physicist, optician and mathematician. The book was published with the kind support of the Prostějov joint stock company Hanácké železárny a pérovny. The inquisitive reader will surely object that everything about it has not been told. The fault lies with the given editorial scope, not with the reluctance of the author. We will learn more in the upcoming interview with Jitka Brůnová-Lachman in connection with her new exhibition in Příbor in May ( Racio and Emotions. Ad honorem Sigmund Freud 15.5 2006). It will take place in the Piarist monastery, as part of the celebration of the 170th anniversary of the birth of the world famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, a local native. Dr. Jitka Brůnová Lachman will exhibit her paintings together with Prof. Ivo Bartečka. Readers will be notified of the opening of the exhibition in due course.

Ivan Cerny