Headquarters of the Academy of Sciences on Národní třída in Prague, 2017
Headquarters of the Academy of Sciences on Národní třída in Prague, 2017Photo: Czech Academy of Sciences, 2017 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The Czech Academy of Sciences (AV ČR) is a public institution bringing together scientific institutes engaged in basic research. It is the successor of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which in its time received lunar material samples from the Soviet side. Decades later they became the subject of a court dispute with the daughter of the scientist who had worked on the samples. The dispute ended with confirmation that the samples remain the property of the Academy, and it reached the Constitutional Court.*

The dispute over the lunar dust samples

Small fragments of rock, minerals and glass brought from the Moon by the Soviet probes Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24 between 1970 and 1976 were received for scientific research from the Soviet side by the then Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences [3]. The material is kept in 15 glass ampoules and one plastic sample holder [1][4]. For decades the samples were then held by the family of the scientist who had worked with them, in the belief that they were her own property [3]. The Academy learned of this in 2020 in connection with an application for an export permit and filed a lawsuit for the return of the wrongfully held item [3].

Decisions of the courts

The Prague 6 District Court ruled in favour of the Academy of Sciences first, followed by the Municipal Court in Prague; both concluded that the family must hand the samples over to the Academy [1][2][4]. The verdict was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court [1][2][4]. Supreme Court spokeswoman Gabriela Tomíčková stated that, on the basis of archival documents and witness testimony, the courts concluded that the samples had always been handed to the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and not to individuals, and that this was an exceptionally rare material intended for scientific research, the donation of which to a private person would be entirely exceptional [1][2][4].

Decision of the Constitutional Court

The scientist's daughter then turned to the Constitutional Court with a complaint in which she argued that the factual and legal conclusions of the ordinary courts were in extreme conflict with the evidence presented, and she proposed a stay of enforceability of the court decisions [1][2][4]. A panel of the Constitutional Court with judge-rapporteur Martin Smolek rejected the complaint as manifestly unfounded [1][2][3][4]. It identified as the key evidence the documents titled "Act of Transfer of Lunar Dust Samples" of 30 April 1971, 14 June 1973 and 10 June 1977, in which the receiving persons, including the complainant's mother, were designated as persons acting on behalf of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences as its authorised representatives [3]. The court stated that although lunar dust samples are not among the items over which court disputes are frequent, and in global terms they are probably a quite unique object of judicial proceedings, the case does not reach a degree of legal complexity requiring special effort on the part of the courts [1][2][4].

Chronology

  • — The Constitutional Court ruled that lunar dust samples from the 1970s remain the property of the Czech Academy of Sciences. → iDNES.cz Pražský deník

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Sources

  1. iDNES.cz — 1 October 2026
  2. Pražský deník — 1 October 2026
  3. Novinky.cz — 1 October 2026
  4. Blesk.cz — 1 October 2026