Chemist Jānis Celms (1895-1968) and his Contribution in Implementation of the Ideas of "Friendly Invitation"

Inženierzinātņu un augstskolu vēsture 2017
Māra Lēruma, Alīda Zigmunde

In 2015, the 120th birthday of Jānis Celms ‒ chemist, pedagogue, and famous public servant, was celebrated. Eighty years ago, on 28 January 1935, thePrime Minister of Latvia Kārlis Ulmanis invited people of Latvia to participate in the initiative called "Friendly Invitation" encouraging people to donate books, pictures and money to the schools they had attended. The coordination of «Friendly Invitation» lay in the hands of engineer Jānis Celms who began his studies at the Riga Polytechnic Institute and graduated in 1933 from the University of Latvia. While being a student he also worked as a teacher at schools in Riga. The "Friendly Invitation" was well received by people. Former students and alumni of the Riga Polytechnic Institute Mārtiņš Bīmanis, Jānis Rapa, Teodors Spāde and others made significant donations. Jānis Celms went into exile in 1944, first to Germany and then, from 1951, to the USA where he died in 1968. He was decorated with the Order of Lāčplēsis (1926) and the Order of the Three Stars (1936).

Keywords
Jānis Celms, Friendly Invitation, Riga Polytechnic Institute.
DOI
10.7250/IAV.2017.005
Hyperlink
https://iav-journals.rtu.lv/article/view/IAV.2017.005

Lēruma, M., Zigmunde, A. Chemist Jānis Celms (1895-1968) and his Contribution in Implementation of the Ideas of "Friendly Invitation". Inženierzinātņu un augstskolu vēsture, 2017, Vol. 1, pp. 79-88. ISSN 2592-8155. e-ISSN 2592-8163. Available from: doi:10.7250/IAV.2017.005

Publication language
Latvian (lv)