author: Vojtěch Dostál
date of issue: 22 February 2006
on the obverse side: drawing tools,
on the reverse side: F. J. Gerstner’s portrait
anniversary: Franz Josef Gerstner was born on 23 February 1756 in Chomutov in an artisan’s family. He graduated in philosophy and astronomy. He was a professor of higher mathematics at the university, he worked at observatories. When the École polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794, the first technical university all over the world, a proposal of the Czech Estates was accepted to establish a polytechnic institute in Prague as well and to appoint F. J. Gerstner to hold the director office. The Decree was signed by the Emperor Franz II on 14 March 1803 and the gates of the school with an official name Královské české stavovské technické učiliště (the Royal Czech Estate Technical Institute) opened to its students on 10 November 1806 for the first time. The school is a direct predecessor to the present ČVUT. Gerstner was a renowned specialist in civil engineering. In 1807, he constructed the first steam machine in the Czech Kingdom. In the same year, he proposed to interconnect the rivers of Danube and Vltava with the České Budějovice – Linz horse railway, which was later implemented by his son František Antonín (Franz Anton). For his merits in the field of science, F. J. Gerstner was awarded in 1808 the Leopold Order by the Emperor Franz II. Two years later, F. J. Gerstner was promoted by the Emperor to the aristocratic estate. When getting older, F. J. Gerstner was pensioned on 9 April 1832 and lay up to his daughter’s farmstead in Mladějov at Jičín where he soon died on 25 June 1832 and is buried there.
For more details, see the web of ČNB.