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Milutin Milanković
Born(1879-05-28)28 May 1879
Dalj, Austria-Hungary
Died12 December 1958(1958-12-12) (aged 79)
Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Alma materVienna Institute of Technology
Known forMilankovitch cycles
Insolation
Revised Julian calendar
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics, astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics

Milutin Milanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Милутин Миланковић, pronounced [milǔtin milǎːnkɔʋitɕ]; 28 May 1879 – 12 December 1958) was a Serbian scientist, astrophysicist, engineeer, mathematician, writer and soldier. Born in the Austro-Hungarian village of Dalj, he earned a doctorate at the Vienna Institute of Technology in 1904 and later worked for a construction company, where he patented new methods of construction. Being a Serbian citizen, Milanković was imprisoned by the Austro-Hungarians with the outbreak of World War I, and spent the remainder of the war researching his theory of insolation at the library of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Budapest. Following the war, he returned to Belgrade and began publishing books relating to his scientific theories. He also worked on revising the Julian calendar and established the theory of Milankovitch cycles, which describes the Earth's long-term climate changes caused by changes in the position of the Earth in comparison to the Sun. Milanković died in Belgrade on 12 December 1958, aged 79.

Biography

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Early life

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The home in which Milutin Milanković was born.

An ethnic Serb,[1] Milutin Milanković was born in the Austro-Hungarian village of Dalj on 28 May 1879[2] to a family that had lived there for generations.[3] He was, alongside his twin sister, the oldest of the family's seven children.[3] When he was seven, Milanković's father died. From then on, he was cared for and supported by his uncle, Vasilije Muačević.[4] Although homeschooled at first, the young Milanković was sent to attend secondary school in the nearby town of Osijek when he was ten.[5] It was here that he was influenced by his professor of mathematics, Dr. Vladimir Varićak.[4] Unchallenged by the schoolwork assigned, Milanković was proclaimed the best student in his class by the end of second term. In 1896, he graduated from school at age seventeen and received top honours.[5] Later, he attended the Vienna Institute of Technology.[2] There, he graduated as a doctor of technical sciences on 17 December 1904.[6]

Afterwards, Milanković became the chief engineer of a construction company, building dams, bridges and other structures.[2] Working on complex projects, he introduced and patented new methods of construction.[7] In 1905, he moved to Serbia and began teaching mathematics at the University of Belgrade.[8] On 1 October 1909, he became a professor at the university, lecturing rational mechanics, theoretical physics, and celestial mechanics.[7] Subsequently, he gave up his Austro-Hungarian citizenship and became a citizen of the Kingdom of Serbia.[9] In 1912, during the First Balkan War, Milanković served in the Danube Division of the Serbian Army.[8]

World War I

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In 1914, Milanković married Kristina Topuzović in Belgrade and the couple travelled to Dalj for their honeymoon.[10] It was during this time that World War I began and Milanković fell into Austro-Hungarian captivity. Accounts differ as to the circumstances of his capture, with claims being that he joined the Serbian Army and was later taken as a prisoner of war[11] and that he was arrested by Austro-Hungarian authorities in Dalj during his honeymoon.[12] The latter claim asserts that Milanković was freed by his friend Emanuel Czuber, who had powerful connections in the Austro-Hungarian government.[13] Nevertheless, Milanković's captors allowed him to continue his research in the library of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Budapest during this period[11] on the condition that he remain in the city and report to Austro-Hungarian authorities every week.[14] While in captivity, he completed his insolation theory for the Earth and worked on the climatic history of Venus and Mars.[1] He also developed a mathematical model comparing variations in solar radiation across the Earth's surface, which was later used by scientists Wladimir Köppen and Alfred Wegener to deduce past climates over drifting continents.[15]

Later years

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Although the war ended in 1918, Milanković was not permitted to return to his home in Belgrade until the following year.[14] In 1920, he published his first book.[7] Although the manuscript had originally been written in German, the book was translated and published in French with the help of one of Milanković's colleagues at the University of Belgrade.[14] Afterwards, Milanković became a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences, the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Germany Academy of Naturalists Leopoldine Halle, and the Italian Institute of Paleontology. He also worked on revising the Julian calendar.[7] In 1938, Milanković developed his theory relating to Earth motions and long-term climate change, known as the theory of Milankovitch cycles.[16] His main scientific works were published in German by the Royal Academy of Serbia in 1941. In November 1954, fifty years after receiving his doctorate, Milanković received a Golden Doctor's diploma from the Vienna Institute of Technology. The next year, he retired from his teaching position at the University of Belgrade.[7] He died of complications from a stroke[17] in Belgrade on 12 December 1958, aged 79.[16] Initially buried at the Topuzović family grave in Belgrade, his remains were later moved to the Milanković family grave in Dalj.[18]

Personality

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Milanković's son, Vasilije, described his father with the following words:[7]

Milutin Milanković was barely tall and of fine frame. He had brown eyes, which were always alert and quietly smiling. His finely-cut lips had a barely noticeable twist giving a faint mocking expression to his face. He was not the bespectacled-professor type of scientist, for he admired and enjoyed nature and loved all things aesthetically harmonious and maintained a constant interest in history, literature, painting, and sculpture. Of all the arts, music was his favourite and opera his first love. But he enjoyed also a glass of wine with his meals and would later relax with a favourite cigar.

Scientific contributions

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Milankovitch cycles

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Main article: Milankovitch cycles

Milanković's most important contribution to science was his detailed exploration of solar irradiance at different latitudes and seasons, his calculation of its long-term variations from the orbital parameters, and his connection of these discoveries to climate.[7]

Although numerous scientists dismissed his theory in the years following World War II, Milanković firmly believed that it was correct and was little disturbed by the different opinions surrounding it. The theory continued to be disputed until the 1960s as a result of discussions based on fragmentary geologic records and because climate was considered too durable to react to the small changes that Milanković observed in summer insolation. In the late 1960s, however, the use of modern techniques began to progressively support Milanković's astronomical theory. Modern evidence shows that he theorized correctly, and most scientists now accept the connection between Milankovitch cycles and climate change.[7]

Legacy

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In 1979, on the one-hundredth anniversary of Milanković's birth, a symposium was organized in Belgrade by the University of Belgrade and a conference was convened at the Lamont–Doherty Geological Observatory in Palisades, New York.[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Kukla & Fairbridge 2005, p. 502.
  2. ^ a b c Rittner 2003, p. 115.
  3. ^ a b Macdougall 2013, p. 115.
  4. ^ a b Berger 2012, p. 116.
  5. ^ a b Macdougall 2013, pp. 115–116.
  6. ^ Berger 2001, p. 95.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Berger 2001, p. 96.
  8. ^ a b Coleman 2012, p. 926.
  9. ^ Macdougall 2013, p. 119.
  10. ^ Berger 2012, p. 117.
  11. ^ a b Allaby 2004, p. 52.
  12. ^ Macdougall 2013, p. 121.
  13. ^ Macdougall 2013, pp. 121–122.
  14. ^ a b c Macdougall 2013, p. 122.
  15. ^ Reed 2009, p. 96.
  16. ^ a b Rittner 2003, pp. 115–116.
  17. ^ Macdougall 2013, p. 132.
  18. ^ Berger 2012, p. 120.
  19. ^ Kukla & Fairbridge 2005, pp. 502–503.

References

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Books

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  • Allaby, Michael (2004). A Change in the Weather. New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-43810-861-2.
  • Berger, André (2001). Goudie, Andrew; Cuff, David J. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Global Change: Environmental Change and Human Society, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19510-825-5.
  • Berger, André (2012). Berger, André; Mesinger, Fedor; Šijački, Djordje (eds.). Climate Change: Inferences from Paleoclimate and Regional Aspects. Vienna, Austria: Springer. ISBN 978-3-70910-973-1.
  • Coleman, Jill S.M. (2012). Philander, S. George (ed.). Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change. Vol. 1 (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. ISBN 9781412992619.
  • Kukla, George; Fairbridge, Rhodes W. (2005). Oliver, John E. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. ISBN 978-1-40203-264-6.
  • Macdougall, Doug (2013). Frozen Earth: The Once and Future Story of Ice Ages. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52095-494-6.
  • Reed, Christina (2009). Earth Science: Decade by Decade. New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-43810-979-4.
  • Rittner, Don (2003). A to Z of Scientists in Weather and Climate. New York: Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-43810-924-4.
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