… many succesful Canadians - the head of Bata Shoe empire Thomas J. Bata, the politician and sportsman Otto Jelinek, the CEO and president of Hudson' s Bay Company George Heller, the writer Peter Newman, the philosopher and writer Will Kymlicka, the entrepreneur A. Karel Velan, the artists Jana Sterbak and Lea Vivot, and many others - are all of Czech origin.

… the founder of modern genetics Gregor Mendel, the composer Gustav Mahler, the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, the Secretary of State under President Clinton Madeleine Albright, the composer Jan Hammer….. were all born in what is now the Czech Republic.

… English words of Czech origin include dollar, howitzer, robot, calash, pram, and pistol.

· the term " dollar" goes back to 1519, in the western region of the present-day Czech Republic, where the owner of several silver mines minted his own coins and called them "Joachimsthaler Groschen," or "Thaler" for short.

· the word " robot," meaning a man-made mechanical being, was coined by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek in his play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robot).

… the Czech Republic is home to the oldest synagogue in Central Europe, the 13th century Staronová Synanogue in Prague.

… Prague's Charles University (founded in 1348) was the first university in Central Europe, and Prague's Technical University was the first of its kind in the world.

… the Good King Wenceslas of the English Christmas Carol was a Czech and is the national Czech patron.

… the principle of planetary motion was discovered in Prague - by Johannes Kepler in 1606.

… the idea of lithography - the process of printing from a plain surface - was developed in 1798 in Bohemia.

… contact lenses were invented by the Czech scientist Otto Wichterle.

… the Art Nouveau movement was born of Czech artist Alfons Mucha and was originaly termed "The Mucha movement".

… Czech tramcars can be found in 95 cities around the world, icluding Berlin, Moscow, Sarajevo, Oslo, Cairo and San Francisco.

… the wife of the first Czechoslovak president, Tomas G. Masaryk, was an American. Her maiden name was Charlotte Garrigue, and she was a direct descendent of the Mayflower Pilgrims.

… Antonin Dvořák, the composer of the "New World Symphony," was a Czech.

… Chicago Mayor Cermak, who took the assassin's bullet meant for President Roosevelt, came from a family of Czech immigrants.

… Oscar winning director Milos Forman ( "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Hair," "Amadeus," "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and "Man in the Moon") is Czech-born, and graduated from the renowned Prague Film Academy.

… about 70 NHL players (Jagr, Hasek, Lang, Hejduk, Elias, Havlat, Cechmanek, Vokoun, Prusek, Turek, Vyborny, Holik, Prospal, Sykora, Rucinsky, Bonk, Nedved, Reichel, Straka, Rachunek, Varada, ....) are Czechs.

… many of the world's best tennis players -- Lendl, Mandlikova, Sukova, Navratilova, Korda, and Novotna, to name a few -- were born and raised in the Czech Republic, and former Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis was named after Martina Navratilova and is also a Czech native.

… the American astronaut and Apollo 13 commander Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., is of Czech descent.

… McDonald's founder Ray Kroc had Czech ancestors.

… the term "pilsner," used generally for a light lager beer, originated in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where the world-famous beer Pilsner-Urquell was first brewed in the 13th century.

… the South Bohemia was the birthplace in 19 th. century of Adolphus Busch, who, leaving his job in the Budvar/Budweiser brewery, emigrated to St Louis to brew an American Budweiser. The Czech Budvar/Budweiser (in Canada and USA called Czechvar) beer is still brewed in Ceske Budejovice and is said to be far stronger and tastier brew than its American cousin.

… the term "Bohemian" came from a Latin word, Boia, the name of the barbaric Celtic/German tribe that once lived in what is today Czech Republic.

… renowned writer Franz Kafka, who penned such classics as "Metamorphosis," "The Trial," "The Castle," and "Amerika," was a Jew who lived in Prague in the early 1900's.

… the huge Millenium Christmas Tree at St. Peter's Square in Rome came from the Czech Republic.