Милорад Јовичић : (1868-1937)

Abstract

Dr. Milorad Jovičić graduated from the Belgrade High School's Philosophical Faculty and studied chemistry whith well-known scientists in Zurich, Berlin, Leipzig and Paris (1890-1896). He taught chemistry at the High School (1897-1899) and University (1906-1908), then at the Military Academy, and from 1907 to his retirement he worked as a chemist in the Mining Department of the Ministry of Economy. After his retirement he did research work in the laboratory of Nobel prize winner, prof. Pregl in Graz. He published about one hundred scientific works from different fields of chemistry: organic, inorganic, analytical, physical chemistry and electrochemistry. His best achievements were in organic chemistry and are being referred to this day. In the area of analytical chemistry he devoted himself to the study of mineral ores, mainly of chrome from Kopaonik, where he discovered a new mineral named chromitite. He published his first work in electrosynthesis together with Sima Lozanid, but subsequently he continued his research on his own. His early works, especially those done with Sima Lozanić, are often quoted, but later on he undertook to prove his thesis on the transformation of elements in electrosynthetic reactions. This wrong hypothesis, to which he held to the end of his life, did much to diminish the importance of his other work and was partly responsible for his name being effaced in our history of science. Milorad Jovičić was corresponding member of the Serbian Royal Academy, member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, and member of the Italian Academy in Palermo which awarded him a gold medal for his contribution to science (1908). His biography and bibliography were mentioned in Pogendorff's encyclopaedia of 1904 and 1924.