Jovan Cvijic, Serbian scientist, was born in Loznica on 11th October 1865. He was a founder of the Serbian Geographical Society, President of the Serbian Royal Academy (now the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) Professor and Rector of Belgrade University, an honorary doctorate from the University of Sorbonne and the Charles University in Prague. He was involved in both social and physical geography, geomorphology, ethnography, geology, anthropology and history. He is considered the founding father of Serbian geography.
In 1884, after finishing high school, he wanted to study medicine, however Loznica municipality was not able to scholarships for the studies abroad. Then on the suggestion of his teacher in high school, he began to attend geography lectures on Great School in Belgrade, and the study ends in 1888. In the school year 1888/89 he worked as a teacher of geography in the second men's Belgrade High School. Then in 1889 he started studies of physical geography and geology at the University of Vienna as a state scholarship.
He received his PhD in 1893 at the University of Vienna. His doctoral thesis entitled "Das Karstphänomen" presented by the general public and made known to the world scientific community. This work was later translated into several languages, and thanks to him, Cvijic is considered as the founding father of karstology. Cvijic was also involved with research work about 38 years where he went on numerous expeditions on the Balkan Peninsula, Southern Carpathians and Asia Minor, whose result was numerous scientific works. He became a scientist of world renown and has received numerous awards. He was a member of eight Academy of Sciences, sixteen geographical and natural history societies and received 10 awards.
He died at the age of 62 in 1927 in Belgrade. His estate bequeathed and left to Serbian Geographical Society. Under the old Law on Decorations is one of the medal bears the name of Jovan Cvijic, who thus found himself in the company of other Serbian giants such as Vuk Karadzic, Nikola Tesla, Milos Obilic, dated 17 September 2004, the National Bank of Serbia has put into circulation a bill 500 dinars with the portrait of Jovan Cvijic, and then a new series on June 4, 2007.
Authors: MA Bozidar Dosenovic and Nebojsa Djumic
Publisher: Poste Srpske a.d. Banjaluka
