Soft contact lenses, sugar cubes, Semtex and the word ‘robot’ — the improbable list of things invented in the Czech lands.
The Czech lands have a habit of producing inventions that quietly end up everywhere. Not the flashy kind that make national legends, but the kind you use without ever wondering where they came from — the lens in your eye, the cube in your coffee, the word you use for a machine that works like a person.
The soft contact lens
Otto Wichterle developed the hydrogel and, in 1961, built the first working soft lenses at home over Christmas using a children’s Merkur construction set and a bicycle dynamo. The state sold the patents abroad for a fraction of their worth; Wichterle himself saw almost nothing from an invention now worn by millions.
The word ‘robot’
Coined in Karel Čapek’s 1920 play R.U.R., from the Czech robota — forced labour. Čapek credited his brother Josef with the suggestion. It is probably the single most successful Czech export in any language.
The sugar cube
Invented in 1843 in Dačice, South Moravia, by Jakub Kryštof Rad, reportedly after his wife cut herself breaking sugar from a loaf. There is a small monument in the town.
Semtex
Developed in the 1960s at Semtín near Pardubice. Its notoriety abroad is entirely at odds with how mundanely industrial its origins were.
Blood groups and lightning rods
Jan Janský classified blood into four groups in 1907. A century earlier, Prokop Diviš built one of the first grounded lightning rods in Europe — and had it torn down by villagers who blamed it for a drought.
Nanofibres, lager and more
Modern electrospun nanofibre production was commercialised in Liberec. And the world’s first pale lager was brewed in 皮尔森 in 1842 — every beer labelled “pils” anywhere on earth descends from it.
经常问的问题
What is the most famous Czech invention?
The soft contact lens, though the word “robot” has travelled further. Pilsner beer arguably beats both in daily global use.
Did a Czech invent the sugar cube?
Yes — Jakub Kryštof Rad in Dačice, 1843. The town still marks it.
Where can I see these inventions?
The National Technical Museum in Prague covers most of them, and does it well.
Read more: the National Technical Museum, Prague and science 和 famous Czech people.
Last reviewed in August 2026.
