Here is a picture from the opening of Křížík's electric tram line from Karlin to Libeň and Vysočany in 1896. The gentleman standing on the tram deck, wearing a headdress and with an order on his chest, is engineer František Křížík.

FRANTIŠEK KŘÍŽÍK. THE GREAT CZECH INVENTOR

František Křížík was born in the village of Plánice, near the southern Bohemian town of Klatovy, into the family of a poor shoemaker. He graduated from the Technical University of Prague. The financial conditions of his life were difficult. That is why he accepted a position as a foreman in Kaufmann's workshop, where signalling systems for the railways, the construction of which was in full swing at that time, were produced. In the following years he worked first in Moravia and then in Pilsen as a railway telegraph clerk. Here he developed an electric interlocking device and an electromagnetic signalling system, which significantly improved the safety of railway traffic.

In 1878, the management of the West Bohemian Railway sent him to the World Exhibition in Paris. He was particularly interested in the arc lamp, an invention of the Russian electrical engineer Pavel Yablochkov, which was the discovery of the exhibition. The disadvantage of Yablochkov's lamp, however, was that it produced intermittent light.

On his return from Paris, Křížík secluded himself in his small workshop and began drawing, calculating, designing and experimenting.

An engineer by training, Křížík set himself the task of improving Yablochkov's lamp so that it would light continuously. In the same year he succeeded in creating a special automatic regulator that kept the distance between the coals of the lamp constant, thus ensuring a constant arc. Křížík's invention soon spread throughout the world.

At the next World Exhibition in 1881, František Křížík exhibited his arc lamp, which he also began to produce on a larger scale. His differential arc lamp was compared in Paris with Edison's first incandescent lamp. The press wrote: «And where was the dim light of the first smouldering coal filament to compete with the steady, strong light of the improved arc»!

His arc lamp eventually won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition. This invention opened the way for him to worldwide recognition, and he received more and more medals, certificates of honour, praise and awards. He became a world celebrity.

Today in Pilsen, in the vestibule of the main building of the West Bohemian Museum, there is an original working differential arc lamp of the engineer František Křížík.

In 1888, Křížík built the first large power station in Prague, in Žižkov. Today, the Křížíková metro station in Prague stands on the site of his factory.

In 1891, František Křížík illuminated the area of the Prague Jubilee Exhibition with two hundred of his arc lamps. He built a magnificent light and music fountain at the exhibition, which are visited not only by the citizens of Prague, but also by people from all over the country. Křížík also operated the first electric tram in Bohemia to the same place. It ran on this line for the first time on 18 July 1891. The line was 766 metres long and ran from the top station of the funicular on Letná (the service was discontinued in 1916) via Ovenecká Street to the upper entrance to the Royal Reserve (today's Stromovka Park).

The Jubilee Exhibition in Prague could rightly be called the Křížík Exhibition.

Five years later, on 19 March 1896, a regular tram line connected the Prague districts of Karlin, Libeň and Vysočany.

Then, in 1903, he built the first electric railway in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (in South Bohemia), from Tabor to Bechyně. These trips are organised with the electric locomotive Elinka, a historical exhibit of the National Technical Museum, which was built in the Ringhoffer factory in Prague between 1903 and 1908 according to the design of František Křížík.

František Křížík glorified the Czech electrical industry and raised it to a world-class level. It was thanks to Křížík that not only the first street lamps appeared in Bohemia, but also the first power stations, the first electrical factory and the first tram. That is why the memory of this outstanding inventor is still alive in our country.

Text: Boris Kogut