Abstract
The publication is focused on the personality of astronomer and diplomat Jaroslav Císař (1894-1983). After graduation at the secondary sc hool he travelled to the USA, where he planed to study astronomy.
The World War I significantly affected his life. As a student of the University of New York he was one of the founders of the Committee for the Support and Liberation of Czech Nation in 1914.
He organized the liberation movement in the east of USA and after the arrival of prof. Tomáš G.
Masaryk he became his personal secretary. He took active part in the preparations of the Czechoslovak Declaration of Independence ("Washington Declaration").
After the war he returned to Prague with the first Czechoslovak President T. G.
Masaryk. Later he worked at the Czechoslovak embassy in London or the economic director of the publishing house "Lidové noviny" in Brno.
He also translated Lewis Caroll's "Alice" into Czech language and edited a popular journal "Věda a život" (Science and Life). After the occupation of the Czech lands by Nazis he emigrated to London, where he worked for the Study Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czechoslovak government in exile.
After the communist coup in 1948 he had a possibility to leave the country legally, as he accepted the position of astronomer at the observatory of the University of St. Andrews.
The biography is based on numerous archival sources, that were partially not yet used.