Mikuláš Teich


Mikuláš Teich was a Slovak-British historian of science, best known for the series of histories in national context which he co-edited with Roy Porter. He was married to the economic historian Alice Teichova.

Life

Mikuláš Teich was born in Kassa on 24 July 1918, and grew up in an assimilated Jewish family. He studied medicine at Charles University, where he became politically active. After the German invasion in March 1939, he and his older brother decided to emigrate, and arrived in London in April 1939. Helped by the Montefiore family, he studied for an external university degree in chemistry at University College, Exeter. He went on to study at Leeds University, joining the Communist Party alongside Alice, who became his wife in 1944. After he gained his doctorate in 1946, they returned to Prague. However, Teich was there labelled a “destructive element” and lost his job in the chemistry department. He managed to build another career in the history of science, and was reinstated as a Party member in 1963. After the repression of the Prague Spring, he and Alice managed to escape to West Germany and on to England. There Joseph Needham found him employment at Caius College until he became a founding fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge. He remained a Fellow of Robinson until his death, aged 100, on 16 August 2018.

Works

Books

Changing perspectives in the history of science: essays in honour of Joseph Needham, 1973Two essays on central European economic history, 1981The Enlightenment in national context, 1981Revolution in history, 1986Romanticism in national context, 1988Fin de siècle and its legacy, 1990The Renaissance in national context, 1991The scientific revolution in national context, 1992The National question in Europe in historical context, 1992A documentary history of biochemistry, 1770-1940, 1992The Reformation in national context, 1994Sexual knowledge, sexual science : the history of attitudes to sexuality, 1994Drugs and narcotics in history, 1995The industrial revolution in national context, 1996Nature and society in national context, 1997Bohemia in history, 1998Zwischen der kleinen und der grossen Welt : ein gemeinsames Leben im 20. Jahrhundert, 2005Slovakia in History, 2011The Scientific Revolution Revisited, 2015

Articles