He was born and died in
Stará Boleslav. Among his chief achievements is the foundation of the
Skalnaté Pleso Observatory and the discovery of the comet
C/1947 F2 (Bečvář) (also known by the designations 1947 III and 1947c). His lifelong illness led him to the
High Tatras where he founded the observatory. Bečvář is particularly important for his
star charts: he led the compilation of the
Atlas Coeli Skalnate Pleso (1951), published by
Sky Publishing Corporation as the
Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens, which was the state-of-the-art atlas of its kind until
Wil Tirion's "Sky Atlas 2000.0" in 1981. A dozen
star names in the atlas are of unknown origin, no connection to any language or previous source has been discovered despite an extensive search. He also compiled
Atlas eclipticalis, 1950.0 (1958),
Atlas borealis 1950.0 (1962), and
Atlas australis 1950.0 (1964). The
asteroid 4567 Bečvář and the crater
Bečvář on the
Moon were named in his honour. American
Avant-garde composer
John Cage used Bečvář's star charts as the basis of several works:
Atlas Eclipticalis (1961–1962),
Etudes Australes (1974–1975),
Etudes Boreales (1978) and
Freeman Etudes (1977–1980, 1989–1990). ==References==