Did You Know?

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

- 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 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.

- 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.

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

- 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.

- 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 and graduated from the renowned Prague Film Academy.

- Many of the world's best tennis players -- Ivan Lendl, Hana Mandlikova, Helena Sukova, Martina Navrátilová, Petr Korda, and Jana Novotna, to name a few -- were born and raised in the Czech Republic. Martina Hingis, the "princess of the WTA," was named after Navrátilová and is also a Czech native.

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

- Contact lenses were invented by Czech scientist Otto Wichterle.

- McDonald's founder Ray Kroc had Czech ancestors.

- The brothers who founded the Korbel Champagne Cellars in California were Czech.

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

- The founder of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel, is a Moravian native.

- The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, and composer Gustav Mahler were both Moravians.

- Madeline Albright, Secretary of State under President Clinton, is Czech and speaks Czech fluently.

- Ivana Trump, former model and ex-wife of billionaire businessman Donald Trump, is Czech and was born in a town just south of Prague.

- Vaclav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic, is also a celebrated author and playwright.

- The Howitzer cannon drew its name from the Czech "houfnice" - the multiple-use weapon used by Czech warriors in the 15th century.

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

- Antonín Dvorák, the composer of the "New World Symphony," was a Czech.

- Chicago Mayor Anton Joseph Cermak, who took the assassin's bullet meant for President Roosevelt in 1933, immigrated from Czechoslovakia to the U.S. when he was one year old.

Most Czech facts courtesy of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C.