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Josef Matyáš
Josef Matyáš
Born	January 27, 1929 (age 95); Nekoř
Alma mater	Charles University
Occupation(s)	Researcher, Mathematician, Inventor
Spouse	Hedwig Sitte

RNDr. Josef František Matyáš, CSc. (27th January 1929 Nekoř, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech mathematician, researcher and an innovator in the area of regulatory processes optimization. His research was mainly focused on the applications of probability theory and mathematical statistics with regard to the methods of solving mathematical problems using analog computers. He's also a practicing catholic, amateur gardener and an enthusiast in fields of philosophy and astronomy.

Youth and Studies

Josef Matyáš was born in the Orlické Mountains in January of 1929. Raised in poverty, his father had a job as a roadmender and his mother worked in agriculture. In 1943 he finished his elementary education in Jablonné nad Orlicí. After that he started studying at a Business Academy in Prague, since business schools were of the few kinds that had not been canceled by the Nazis. In 1944, however, even this high school was closed by the Protectorate (like all other high schools and universities). After the war, Josef enrolled at a Business Academy in Choceň. After one year there, he decided that he wanted to study at a gymnasium.

So, the 17-year-old Josef went to study at the Archbishop Gymnasium in Prague. However, in June 1947 the school was canceled by the Ministry of Education and the teaching was moved to Bohosudov. At that time, Josef learned about the possibility of accommodation in the monastery of Knights of the Cross with the Red Star. Instead of moving to Bohosudov, he and his classmates decided to continue studying at Jirásek's Gymnasium in Prague. Meanwhile, in February 1948, the Czech coup happened and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia assumed control over the government of Czechoslovakia.

Josef Matyáš was being housed in the monastery when he became a direct witness of the brutal Action K. This event was a communist annihilation of monasteries and religious orders. After that, the monastery was guarded by police officers and militiamen. Subsequently, Josef and his roommate Jiří Kalvoda decided to help save most of the valuable religious literature that was stored in the monastery before the militia discovered and destroyed it. After getting a key from the library, they threw the books from a window to the riverbank. There, after dark, they arrived with a borrowed boat and transported the books across the river Vltava, where other religious students were waiting with suitcases to save the books.

After graduation in June 1950, Josef was admitted to the Mathematics-Physics course at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. After the first year of his studies, he decided to specialize in Mathematical Statistics as he believed that out of all options it was the most practical one. During his studies, the new Faculty of Mathematics and Physics separated from the Faculty of Science. So, in 1954, he graduated with the title 'graduated mathematician' at this new faculty.

Work and Achievements

After successfully completing the mathematical education at Charles University in 1954, Josef Matyáš was immediately assigned to the Directorate of SHD (North-Bohemian Lignite Mines) as a traffic dispatcher in Teplice according to the needs of the national economy plans. According to the assignment, it was his duty to work there for at least 3 years. As a graduated mathematician he was given the task of counting freight cars of coal. After a year, however, in agreement with the management of SHD, he managed to terminate his employment and get a job at the Institute for Research of Radio Technology (ÚVR) in Opočínek near Pardubice, where he was allowed to actually apply the education he acquired.

So, from August 1955 to January 1990, Josef Matyáš worked under TESLA Pardubice. As a mathematician, he worked on the research of analog, digital and hybrid computation methods, optimization methods and statistical calculations. He co-authored the book "Computation by Electronic Analogue Computers" and he's the author of another book called "Optimal Control System". Both books were published in Prague in 1963 and subsequently also in English translation in 1968. Working on these two books at the same time was an exceptional challenge that he still regards as a very valuable experience. In April 1970, he acquired the Candidate of Sciences title (CSc.) after a successful defense of his rigorous thesis. In November of that year he also received the scientific rank of Doctor of Natural Sciences (RNDr.) for the same work.

Scientific Activity

Matyáš has published more than 75 scientific and technical articles in Czech and foreign journals, he has produced more than 40 research reports and has lectured on the results of his research papers at more than 35 technical conferences and scientific congresses. Additionally, he had 15 patents recognized, most of which are special computational circuits that can be used in various technical devices and computers.

Almost all of the mentioned conferences were held in the socialist countries or in the USSR, several business trips were to West Germany and one to Switzerland. An important exception could have been a US conference in 1966. There were 4 applicants in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, of which Matyáš was the only one to have prepared a lecture on random processes that was accepted by the Americans and included in the conference agenda.

Due to the high cost of travel, the ministry decided to send only one participant. However, Josef Matyáš had his hopes up in vain. For political reasons, another applicant, a committed communist employee of the ministry, was chosen. The selected participant offered to read Matyáš's lecture at the conference, but Matyáš naturally rejected.

Matyáš was a member of the Czechoslovak Technical Science Society, which awarded him several honors for good work. He has also won a number of awards in theoretical and technical competitions at his workplace and holds honorable certificates for the best solutions to various mathematical problems.

Personal Life

Before he moved to Pardubice and started his family, he spent virtually all his free time and holidays helping his family with work in the fields. He helped his elder brother, Stanislav, take care of the homestead. Stanislav was, among other things, an enthusiastic beekeeper, a musician and a carpenter by profession. In his youth he made a guitar for his brother, which Josef would take to Prague and learn to play during his studies.

Josef Matyáš married shortly after completing his studies at Charles University and has 3 daughters. His wife Hedwig, who was a nurse, supported him in his scientific and technical work. Besides mathematics, Matyáš is also interested in physics, astronomy and philosophy. She speaks English, German and Russian. In his free time, he always enjoyed listening to classical music and working on his garden.

Matyáš retired in February of 1990. In the early 1990s, he and Hedwig were often hired as guides and interpreters for tourist trips to Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Since 1993, they lead a club for the elderly called Seniorklub. It was held regularly every month at a parish in Pardubice for 17 years.

List of Patents

(in parentheses: date of patent approval, patent number, possible co-author)

Analog delay line (December 1958, 87975, co-author Ing. V. Borský)
Summation double integrator (September 1959, 91648)
Sub-acoustic delay line (October 1959, 92150, co-author Ing. V. Borský)
Computing device for finding polynomial roots with real or complex coefficients (October 1959, 92178)
Electrical circuit for second order equations (March 1960, 94866)
Analog computing device for searching for geometric locations of polynomial roots (May 1960, 95376)
Programming diagram of analog differential analyzer for realization or simulation of systems with variable parameters from impulse response (May 1960, 95391)
Generator of a group of n random processes with individual and mutual spectral densities (November 1960, 97379, co-author Ing. J. Šilhánek)
Programming diagram of analog differential analyzer for solving equations with variable coefficients (August 1962, 104788)
Generator of a group of n discrete random processes (August 1962, 104828, co-authors RNDr. L. Prouza, Ing. J. Šilhánek)
Circuit for continuous signal sampling and sample integration (June 1966, 118651, co-author Ing. V. Jelen)
Circuit for impulse systems modeling (February 1968, 126294)
Device for solving systems of linear algebraic equations (February 1969, 131027, co-authors Ing. M. Staněk, Ing. P. Novák)
Analog device for electrical evaluation of variable quantities (December 1971, 143940, co-author Ing. M. Staněk)
Analog device for evaluation of non-periodic electrical quantities (August 1972, 145146, co-author Ing. M. Staněk)

Circuit for solving linear algebraic equations - patent was not granted, only an improvement design
Random optimizer - patent was not granted