Ing. Marie Magdalena Dufková

* 1955

  • "I was never in the Pioneer or the in SSM (Socialist Youth Union). When I worked at the Institute of Nuclear Information, the regime was quite rigid because, as I said, the workplace was in contact with the West, so we were closely monitored. When we went to Vienna, we had to sign all kinds of papers including having to report any contact with a foreigner, even unplanned. I found that quite ridiculous, being the young girl I was, but it was tough. The worst thing for me was that the institute was headed by people who were there only because they had merit from the CPC (the communist Party) but otherwise had no idea about nuclear and the things that were done there. That was rather annoying. Such were the times, that's the way it was, and so I just focused on my science."

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    Praha , 31.01.2024

    (audio)
    délka: 59:33
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th Century TV
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Only educated people can oppose pressure and injustice

Marie M. Dufková on internship in the Soviet Union
Marie M. Dufková on internship in the Soviet Union
zdroj: Witness's archive

Marie Magdalena Dufková was born in Prague-Zbraslav on 24 February 1955. Her paternal grandfather Hynek Svoboda was a prominent architect, her grandmother a dentist. Her mother Edita, née Št‘astná, also came from a prominent business family of poultry business owners in Libuše. However, this was no longer the case by the time Marie was born; both families had lost their estates and had become undesirable. Marie felt this after graduation when she was not admitted to the Faculty of Science and had to choose a technical field, which was not in demand as much. She studied nuclear physics at the CTU and eventually worked in the field all her life, in particular nuclear energy education. She became the editor-in-chief of the educational magazine Třípól (Tripole) in the 1980s, which she still publishes online. She has received numerous awards for science education and popularisation such as the European Nuclear Society Award, the Physics Society Award and others. She used her motion talents in dancesport, which she has pursued all her life. In 2024 she lived in Prague-Zbraslav.