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IN MEMORIAM
PETR BLAHUŠ (1944-2010)
Just when we seem to be ready to fol-
low his ideas about international collabo-
ration around the mathematical problems 
in the fi eld of measurement in kinesiology/
kinanthropology, kineziometrics, and the 
mathematical aspects of its development, 
our president, friend, colleague, beloved 
husband, father and grandfather - Pro-
fessor Petr Blahuš of the Department of 
Kinanthropology (Research Methodology 
Division) at Charles University in Prague, 
founding president of the International 
Kinesiolmetric Forum (Kinesiometric So-
ciety) has left us at the age of sixty-six. 
After a serious illness, he died in his sleep 
at four in the morning on the 19th of July, 
2010. With so many questions in mind 
which still need answering, we will try to 
pay tribute to person whom science and its 
quantitative aspects were more a passion than a profession.
Petr Blahuš was born on 23 January 1944 in Prague. His early education, up to his 
academic degrees were continuously completed with excellent marks. Some will note 
that all this took place “behind the iron curtain”, with all that this implies. As a junior 
sportsman he was a gymnast, participating in competitions and winning several titles. 
It was this that guided him to study and earn his major in the area of physical education. 
There he was supervised by, and later cooperated with prof. Stanislav Čelikovski whom 
he often gave credit to for the opportunities he had been given to develop himself in the 
area of quantitative methodology. To reproduce here in brief what he, when he was just 
59, a humble and decent person, considered as important to warrant being mentioned 
in his biography.
He graduated with his Master’s (an equivalent to a Master’s of Education, M.Ed.) 
from the Charles University, Prague, in 1968. The two last years of his study he had 
already spent working as a Technical Assistant at the Department of Anatomy and Bio-
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82
mechanics. His specialization was in quantitative research methodology and education-
al theory. He also attended some selected external courses in statistics at the Faculty of 
Mathematics and Physics, general biology and anthropology at the Faculty of Natural 
Sciences and in mathematical economy at the Prague University of Economics. 
Then, in 1969 he registered for a one-year postgraduate course at the Faculty of Phi-
losophy, passing subjects such as the history of philosophy, general psychology, and the 
philosophy of science. He also passed a further one-year external postgraduate course 
in probability/statistics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics.
After having completed this rather interdisciplinary program, all the time stressing 
quantitative methodology, he defended his dissertation “A Comparison and Generaliza-
tion of Factor Analytic Models and Their Application to the Structure of Motor Abili-
ties” in 1974. His supervisor and the main reviewer were eminent individuals from the 
Department of Mathematical Statistics and Probability Theory.
Petr worked as a Junior Researcher in 1968, a Researcher from 1969 - 1974 and a 
Researcher-Specialist from 1974 - 1976 at the Department of Anthropomotorics, Bio-
mechanics and Anatomy (renamed at that time).
In 1976 he changed to the position of Assistant Professor at the Department of 
Theory and Methodology. In 1979 he defended the s.c. habilitation thesis “Statistical 
Models with Latent Variables in Educational Research and Management” and was in-
stalled as a Associated Professor of Education (Docent).
In 1989 he defended the thesis “Theory of Application of Statistical Methods in 
Social Sciences” for the higher doctorate degree of Doctor of Science, Dr.Sc., and in 
1992 became a full ranking Professor.
While teaching mostly at the Department of Theory and Methodology at Charles 
University, he was carrying out my research mainly at the Division of Mathematical 
Methods and Experimental Techniques at the Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sci-
ences at that time - I was the Acting Head of the Division from 1982 till 1990. After 
accepting the position of Vice-Dean of Research in January 1990, I continued to consult 
for the Institute of Psychology till 1994 when Petr was installed as Vice Rector of the 
Charles University.
After 1998 he was fully back to the Division of Research Methodology and was 
involved mostly in teaching and supervising PhD students, Doctoral Council manage-
ment and other academic duties. After fi nishing his academic term at the rectorate and 
in the administration of Charles University, his previous series of shorter teaching in-
volvements at universities abroad culminated in 2001 when he spent a full academic 
year in the USA as a Visiting Professor of Psychological Statistics and Mathemati-
cal Psychology with Multivariate Psychometrics at the Department of Psychology and 
Neuroscience, at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
During that time, he wrote that he was in his fi fty ninth year and that he was in great 
health, actively participating in outdoor activities, especially rock climbing with a small 
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ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 1 • 2010 • 1
83
group of enthusiasts. Among these people and also some of his very closest friends he 
was called “Pedro2”, a nick name used to demonstrate a secret bond and closeness. Petr 
was so enthusiastic, so full of optimism and ready for new challenges.
Our senior professors and we, their collaborators and successors in the Zagreb 
school of kinesiology in the70’s, 80’s and early 90’s knew about his dedication to his 
work from his published papers, books and monographs. On the occasion of the 2nd 
International Conference on Kinesiology in Dubrovnik in 1999, he was in direct con-
tact with what remains of Prof. Konstantin Momirović’s quantitative and well founded 
kinesiology circle. We spent several hours in between sessions in conversation regard-
ing quantitative methodology in science, his favorite topic. And from that moment on, 
we continued to be in constant contact. He became a member of the editorial board of 
The International Journal of Kinesiology. He became a distinguished visiting profes-
sor at the University of Zagreb , incorporated directly in a postgraduate (master and 
doctor degree) studies in the area which we like to entitle mathematical kinesiology. 
During the exchange and with his visiting lectures, we continued to develop the idea of 
coordinating efforts towards a collaboration of individuals who dedicate their work on 
multivariate data and statistics on the European level.
His regular collaboration with his old friend Roderick McDonald and other he used 
to invite to Prague opened perspectives. On every occasion he used opportunity to 
express his optimism and new insights in the area. In between meetings, we continued 
our e-mail communication.
We used to say “we shall never surrender”. On one occasion, he gave me the fi rst 
two hundred pages of a completely new book on quantitative methodology in science 
he had been working on. Wish everyone interested in multivariate data analysis and sta-
tistics to have opportunity to get such a course for the beginning to open the horizons. I 
have to admit that felt very much honoured to be at the spring. Reading it made me feel 
that I knew him so much better and increased my understanding of how much effort he 
was ready to put into any project.
After he returned from a visit to his friend Rod (Roderick McDonald) who was 
recovering from an illness, he made a great effort to organize some form of association 
of individuals and institutions experienced in the theory and application of measure-
ment in the area of human movement and exercise science. Again he visited several 
international symposia and invited colleagues to Prague, where he expressed his idea 
about an association and from there, things began to take shape. A founding committee 
was established as a part of Research and methodology section at the 5th International 
Conference on Kinesiology in Zagreb in 2008. The provisional title of the International 
Kinesiometric Forum was proposed. 
Declared as the International Kinesiometrics Forum, it is devoted to the development 
of kinesiology as a quantitative rational science, having in mind the theory and method-
ology of building human movement science on quantitative rational foundations.
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84
On 21st May 2009 at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia, the consti-
tutional meeting took place and Professor Petr Blahuš was the fi rst elected President 
(unfortunately in abstention).
We used to say “we shall never surrender”. Life, however, is very unpredictable. In 
one of his last e-mails in the middle of June, seriously ill, he wrote me, “I keep working 
on the book as far as I am able, now I am doing a revision and reworking the parts that 
were already tentatively written - fi nished at least that which had already been started. 
I will send it to you, perhaps in couple of weeks, it is now 504 pp., with a line spacing 
of 1.5, including references and only some of the fi gures that I was able to transfer into 
the text from other programs (about 7,5MB)”. What a legacy!
He leaves to mourn his wife Eva, daughters Jana and Kristina, son Filip, grandchil-
dren Tereza, Klara, Simon, and Daniel.
At a funeral service which was held on Monday, 26th July, at “Krematorium Stras-
nice” in Prague, we were separated from him but not from his ideas which will continu-
ously inspire us.
Hasta la Vista, Pedro.
Zagreb, 2nd October 2010
Franjo PROT
Šimunič, Pišot, Prot, Blahuš, Kovar, “International Kinesiometrics Forum”, Zagreb, 
September 2008
ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 1 • 2010 • 1
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INVITATION TO ARTICLE SUBMISSION
“Annales Kinesiologiae” is a scientifi c and research interdisciplinary journal 
covering kinesiology in its related areas of medical, biomechanical and social sci-
ences. This research employs knowledge and methods of inquiry into human inter-
action with the environment in the broadest sense of the term from the perspective 
of kinesiology. It combines fi elds and topics directed towards the study of the human 
organism, its movement and its response in the frame of motor effectiveness in spe-
cifi c environments.
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