175 years since the birth of Antal Koch
Antal/Anton
Koch (Sombor, 7.1.1843 – Budapest, 8.2.1927), after completing his
studies in
Pest, Koch worked at the Geological Institute in Budapest from 1869 and
got
subspecialization in Vienna and Bonn (1869–1970). He was appointed at
Kolozsvár/Cluj for University Professor of geology and mineralogy in
1872. In
1895 he became a member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences and continued
his work
as the Professor of geology and paleontology
in Budapest. In 1864 Koch
started
with the investigations of trachites and geology of Fruška Gora Mts.
The topic
of his inaugural academic address was the geology of Fruška Gora (it
beacame
the first geologic monography with the first geologic map of Fruška
Gora). The
main highlights of his scientific work were the review of Transylvanian
minerals (1885), Tertiary geology of the Transylvanian Basin (1894,
1900), salt
analysis, documented of earthquakes and analyzed the Transylvanian
meteorites,
regional geology of Pilis and Visegrád Hills, investigations related to
paleontology and history of geology. In honour of Antal Koch, 34
fossils are
denominated with his name.
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150
years since the birth of Vladimir D. Laskarev
Vladimir
D. Laskarev (Biryuch, Russian Empire, June 26, 1868 – Belgrade, April
10,
1954), a geologist and a mineralogist, graduated from the University in
Odessa,
completed his specialist studies in Vienna and obtained an MA degree in
Odessa
in 1903. He defended his doctorate thesis in Kiev in 1916. He worked as
a full
professor in geology at the University in Odessa, and arrived in
Belgrade in
1920 as an already acknowledged expert, having summoned enviable
experience in
his numerous visits to geological sites of Europe. He held lectures in
paleontology
at the University of Belgrade. His main research field was
Neogene
and Quaternary stratigraphy. Laskarev was in charge of devising a
detailed
geological map of Belgrade area. He was the first to introduce the term
”Paratethys” in geological literature and practice. In 1932, he was
elected an
associate member of the Serbian Royal Academy and became a full member
in 1947.
Since 1948 he was a fellow member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences.
Laskarev
was appointed as a manager of a newly established Geological institute
of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences (1947), an honorary member of Mineralogist
society
in Sankt Petersburg, a fellow to the Natural science society in Wolin
and the
Dniester society of natural sciences.
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150
years since the birth of Stevan Bošković
Stevan
Bošković (Zaječar, Мау 10, 1868 – Belgrade, May 9, 1957) was the
founder of the
Military Geographical Institute and its head since 1901, as well as a
cofounder
of the Geographical society along with Jovan Cvijić in 1910. He was
educated at
schools in Zaječar, Kragujevac and Belgrade (1886–1889), and afterwards
in
Saint Petersburg at the Military Topographical School, at the Imperial
Nicholas
Military Academy as well as the Central Astronomical Observatory of the
Russian
Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo (1892–1899). On his return to Serbia in
1900, being
the head of Military Geographical Institute, he was developing a
trigonometric
network of the Kingdom of Serbia. He gave his contribution in the
foundation of
Geodetic Society of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians in
1919, being
elected its president and afterwards a life-long honorary member.
Bošković was
advanced to the rank of general in 1923 and in 1929 he established the
Higher
Geodetic School at Military Geographical Institute. He was elected an
associate
member of the Serbian Royal Academy in 1932 and а full member of
Serbian
Academy of Sciences in 1955.
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150
years since the birth of Mihailo Petrović Alas
Mihailo
Petrović Alas (Belgrade, April 24, 1868 – Belgrade, June 8, 1943)
attended the
Grande École in Belgrade (1885–1889) as well as the prestigious École
Normale
Supérieure in Paris, being the first foreigner educated there. He
obtained a
degree in chemistry as early as in 1891, in mathematics in 1892 and in
physics
in 1893. He obtained his doctorate degree in mathematics in 1894, and
became a
professor at the Grande École (later the University of Belgrade) where
he
founded Mathematics library in 1895. In 1897 he was elected an
associate member
of the Serbian Royal Academy. Petrović published 14 monographs and
around 260
scientific papers, along with numerous literal and historical works.
Since the
foundation of the University of Belgrade in 1905, he was a full time
professor,
being also appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy twice in the
period
1908–1910. Having been fascinatingly multi-talented, Petrović invented
the
distance meter (1910), the customized auger (1913), the calculator of
the eternal
calendar (1917) and the submarine depth meter (1918). He was a member
of
scientific expeditions to the North Pole in 1931 and in 1933, and also
to the
South Pole in 1935. He was mobilized in 1941 at the age of 73 and
subsequently
taken prisoner, only to be released shortly before he died. |