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Residents of Prague in 1968 turned out against the Soviet-led invasion of their country
After his Nieman year, Tucek returned to work at Mlada fronta Dnes in Prague, creating the paper’s first science section
The Nieman Fellowship changed me in so many ways; it’s hard to tell it all. I learned how my colleagues work, in the U.S. as well as in many other countries. It was both revealing and relieving to talk, for example, to [Mathatha Tsedu] the Fellow from South Africa. We had both grown up under dictatorships, both grown up with censorship. It was breathtaking to comprehend all the different solutions creative people find to overcome or fight censorship. I got an international perspective on just about everything, and I continue to apply it to every subject that crosses my desk. I came home excited and fueled by the strong belief that even though the world, and particularly science, is a complex and difficult creature, it can be explained.
From an interview with Stefanie Friedhoff, NF ’01, in 2004