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Interviewemployed who would otherwise have had problems findinga job. How did you manage it?First of all, I never had the ambition of being a directorand I got into this position by sheer coincidence of circumstances.I took it as a service to my “maternal” institution.The times were not easy indeed. My principal goalwas to keep a quiet atmosphere in the institute, rathercalm down than provoke conflicts. Somehow, it worked.You spent a lot of effort and energy for the benefit ofthe Union of Czech Mathematicians and Physicists andalso of the EMS. What are your impressions about theorigins and the current state of the EMS?I was a deputy of the union at the first informal meetingdedicated to establishing a European organisationof mathematicians, held in 1978 in Helsinki. Hospitalityand engagement of Finnish mathematicians were veryimportant for the beginning of the EMS. The EMS alsoprobably wouldn’t exist without the effort of Sir MichaelAtiyah and later of Professor Friedrich Hirzebruch. TheCzech union contributed quite significantly, too. I was intensivelyworking in the Extended Preliminary Committeeof the EMS till 1992. The current publication activityof the EMS is formidable. My overall impression is thatthe original goal of establishing an analogue of the AMShas not been met yet.You had a decisive impact on the fruitful long-termcollaboration of Czech mathematicians with expertsfrom abroad. Did your personal friendship with foreignmathematicians play a role here?Personal contacts have always been very important. Anothersignificant parameter is the location. For example,the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena was easy to travelto, and moreover it is not far from Prague. Collaborationwith the Soviet Union was also possible throughvarious mutual agreements. Contacts with the Royal Societyin the UK were more difficult to maintain, but possible.After 1990, everything became easy. I always madesome original contacts and my younger colleagues couldthen take advantage of them. An important factor wasthe organisation of conferences in our country since newcontacts were built there.her maximum support. I believe that she also has understandingfor my mathematics. I appreciate that she accompaniesme during my travels if circumstances allow.She is however not always delighted by me leaving heron her own during conference talks.What do you like most and what do you like least aboutbeing a mathematician?I like the life in general and the life of a mathematicianin particular. What I do not like is the sometimes negativeattitude of the public towards mathematics. Too oftenwe hear celebrities emphasising that they never likedmathematics, that they have never been capable of understandingit. Mathematics deserves better!Luboš Pick is a professor of mathematicalanalysis at Charles University in Prague,Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. Hestudied at Charles University in Pragueand obtained a PhD at the MathematicalInstitute of the Czechoslovak Academy ofSciences in 1990. In the period 1991–1994he was employed by the University of Wales in Cardiff,UK. He has written one monograph and over 60 researchpapers in the theory of function spaces. In his free timehe translates books from English to Czech and plays bassguitar in several rock and folk bands.The first Spring School on Nonlinear Analysis, FunctionSpaces and Applications (NAFSA) was organised in1978; the 10th one is just coming. How was the organisationin times of no email, internet or cell phones?NAFSA schools were an offspring of the Pilsen seminars.Conditions for the organising work were of course verydifferent to the current ones. But we were able to manageit even with quite modest means such as the usualmail. And hard conditions had a good impact on the integrityof our team.Your wife is a quite well-known translator from Germanand other languages. What is family life like fortwo professionals so deeply engaged in their work?We have been together for over 55 years. I respect hertranslating job very much and I have always tried to give46 EMS Newsletter June 2014