| Absolon Karel, Prof., Dr.
Teacher, outstanding geographer, geomorphologist, speleologist, and archaeologist. After the school leaving exams at a secondary school in Brno he studied zoology at Charles University in Prague, graduating in 1904. From 1904 to 1911 he was assistant professor at the Geological Department of the same university. In 1907 he became adjunct professor of physical geography. Between 1908 and 1938 he was head of the Zoological Department of the Moravian Provincial Museum in Brno. (Moravské zemské muzeum) He became famous mainly for his speleological investigations in the Moravian karst and Dinaric karst. One of the main successes was the attainment of the Macocha abyss from the Pustý leb valley through the Punkva caves and, in 1914, the discovery of through-caves of the Punkva river. He mapped and described all karst areas in northern part of the Moravian karst. In the Dinaric karst (1908-1922) he studied in particular the cave fauna and hydrography of the subterranean rivers of Ombla, Buna and Timava. He took part in a research project on excavations in the central settlement of the mammoth hunters in Dolní Věstonice, discovery of large accumulations of mammoth bones and other archaeological objects and artifacts (the Venus of Věstonice, little heads of carnivores). In 1926 he was appointed professor of geography at Charles University. However, his main place of work was in Brno at the Moravian Provincial Museum where he was the head of the Department of Zoology in the years 1908 - 1938.
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born 16th June 1877, Boskovice, died 6th October 1960, Brno