Portal:Serbia/Selected bio/January
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар II Петровић-Његош) was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop (Serbian: Владика or Vladika) of Montenegro and a ruler who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet and is considered by many to be among the greatest poets of the Serbian language. The first notable writer from Montenegro, his notable works include The Mountain Wreath (Serbian: Горски вијенац or Gorski vijenac), the Light of Microcosm (Луча микрокозма or Luča mikrokozma), the Serbian Mirror (Огледало српско or Ogledalo srpsko), and False Tsar Stephen the Little (Лажни цар Шћепан Мали or Lažni car Šćepan Mali).
Njegoš spent his early years in Njeguši. In 1825, when his uncle Prince-Bishop Peter I sent him to the monastery of Cetinje as his successor to be tutored by a monk, Misail Cvetković and the Prince-Bishop's secretary, Jakoov Cek. He wrote his first poems there, which he used to entertain the local chiefs and monks. The most famous of them were satirical. In the middle of the year, Radivoje was dispatched to the Topla monastery near Herceg Novi, where he was taught Italian, mathematics, ecclesiastical singing, the Psalter and another subject at the monastery's hieromonk, Josip Tropović. He often attended the ecclesiastical services in the nearby Savina monastery, dedicated to Saint Sava.
Ana Ivanović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ана Ивановић, born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade) is a Serbian professional tennis player. She is currently ranked World No. 2 and is the top ranked Serbian player, just in front of compatriot Jelena Janković. At the 2007 French Open, Ivanović reached her first Grand Slam singles final, losing to Justine Henin. She also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and the Women's Tennis Association Tour Championships in 2007. At the 2008 Australian Open final, she was defeated by Maria Sharapova.
Ivanović is an offensive baseliner. Her game relies heavily on the power, depth and placement of her forehand strokes, producing lots of winners through penetrating, flat shots, with the occasional spice of topspin. Her net play is not used as often, but her volleys are generally well executed, as are her drop shots.
Ivanović picked up a racket at the age of 5 after watching Monica Seles, a fellow Serbian, at Roland Garros on television. She started her promising career at the age of 5, after memorizing the number of a local tennis clinic from an ad on TV. During her training she encountered the NATO bombings in 1999, where she would have to train in the morning to avoid them.
Emir Kusturica (Serbian Cyrillic: Емир Кустурица, born 24 November 1954 in Sarajevo) is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician. He has been recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films, as well as his projects in town-building. He has twice won the Palme d'Or at Cannes (for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground), as well as being named Commander of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Since the mid-2000s, Kusturica's primary residence has been in Drvengrad, a town built for his film Life Is a Miracle, in the Mokra Gora region of Serbia. He had portions of the historic village reconstructed for the film. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republika Srpska since 9 November 2011.
Portal:Serbia/Selected bio/May
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Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Novak Đoković, Новак Ђоковић, pronounced [nôʋaːk d͡ʑôːkoʋit͡ɕ] ⓘ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player and former world No. 1 who is currently ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is generally considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
Djokovic has won six Grand Slam singles titles and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a total of 101 weeks. By winning three Grand Slam titles in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player to win three Grand Slams in a calendar year. By reaching the 2012 French Open final, he became the ninth player in the Open Era to reach the final of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and became only the fifth to do so consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008, 2012 and 2013 and was on the Serbian team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the Bronze medal in men's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has won 19 Masters 1000 series titles, breaking a single-season record with five titles in 2011. This places him third on the list of Masters 1000 winners since its inception in 1990.
He holds several men's world records of the Open Era: becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events both separately and consecutively; the first and only man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open Era; and playing the longest Grand Slam men's singles final in history (5 hours 53 minutes). Djokovic's ATP tournament records include winning 31 consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series matches, playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (a record shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), and being the only player to win eight.
Djokovic is the first male or female Serbian player to win multiple Grand Slams and the first Serbian player to rank No. 1 for more than 100 weeks. He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. Djokovic has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year and the 2012 Best Male Tennis Player ESPY Award. He has won the ATP World Tour Player of the Year twice consecutively, in 2011 and 2012. He is a recipient of the Order of St. Sava and the Order of the Star of Karađorđe.
Vlade Divac (Serbian Cyrillic: Владе Дивац, Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [ˈvlaːdɛ ˈdiːvaʦ]) (born February 3, 1968, in Prijepolje, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a retired Serbian professional basketball player who spent most of his career in the United States' NBA. At 7'1", he played center and was known for his passing skills.
Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла) (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was an inventor, mechanical and electrical engineer. Born in Smiljan, Croatian Krajina, Austrian Empire, he was an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire and later became an American citizen. Tesla is best known for many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work contributed to the modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor.
He was widely respected as an electrical engineer but his unsuccessful forays into trying to transmit electrical power wirelessly and his eccentric personality, seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments made some regarded as a mad scientist. Never having put much focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished at the age of 86. After his death many of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
The SI unit measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field ), the tesla, was named in his honour (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960).
Tesla is honored in Serbia and Croatia, as well as in the Czech Republic (he was awarded the highest order of the White Lion by Czechoslovakia) and in unofficial ways in his adopted home, the United States.
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Silni ("the Mighty") (Serbian: Стефан Урош IV Душан Силни, Greek: Στέφανος Ντουσάν, in English also Stephen Dushan) (c. 1308 – December 20, 1355) was king of Serbia (September 8, 1331 – April 16, 1346) and Tsar (emperor) of the Serbs and the Greeks (April 16, 1346 – December 20, 1355).
Under his rule Serbia reached its territorial peak and, as the Serbian Empire was one of the larger states in Europe at the time. Apart from significant territorial gains, in 1349 and 1354 he made and enforced Dušan's Code, a universal system of laws. He is also the only ruler from the house of Nemanjić who may not have been canonised as a saint soon after his death. Dušan was also noted as a man of gigantic proportions, and according to Papal ambassadors he was the tallest man of his time, estimated at close to seven feet tall.
His Crown is kept at the Cetinje Monastery in Montenegro.
Portal:Serbia/Selected bio/October
Peter I (Serbian: Petar I Karađorđević, Петар I Карађорђевић) (29 June 1844 – 16 August 1921), was King of Serbia from 1903 to 1918, and subsequently the ruler of Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later 1929 Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He was member of the Royal House of Karađorđević. As the leader of victorious Serbian army in World War I, he also received the nickname "Liberator" (Oslobodilac) after the war. The Western-educated King attempted to liberalise Serbia with the goal of creating a Western-style constitutional monarchy, even translating John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" into Serbian. Peter chose to "retire" due to ill health following the Balkan Wars which, from a Serb perspective, were a great success. Executive power passed to his son Alexander. The King was relatively inactive during the First World War, although he did occasionally visit trenches to check up on his troops. One memorable visit in 1915 involved Peter, by then 71, picking up a rifle and shooting at enemy soldiers. Following Serbia's military defeat to the forces of Austro-Hungary Peter led the army and civilian refugees through the mountains to the sea on a 'Calvary known to few peoples'. The King had on 24 June 1914 reassigned his royal prerogatives to the Heir apparent Crown Prince Alexander. His last public appearance was on 1 December 1918, when he was proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. King Peter I died in Belgrade in 1921 at the age of 77.