Александар Шандор В. Поповић : (1847-1877)

Abstract

Aleksandar V. Popović, the first Serbian geologist, was a descendant of an old and famous clerical family from Stapari. He was born on December 10, 1847 in St. Bee/4 just a few months before the Hungarian Revolution. His family was in trade business, but during the Revolution they lost their fortune. His father died at early age, so his mother and his elder brother Stevan Popović had to take care of the family. He finished his elementary school at St. Bečej and secondary Catholic gymnasium in Budapest. From 1866 till the completion of his studies he was resident of boarding school of Tekelianum. He was an industrious student, active member of students association the United Serbian Youth, learned foreign languages, played violin, translated and wrote poetry. He studied natural sciences at the Faculty of Philosophy at Budapest. During the course of his studies he was particularly interested in lectures on mineralogy and geology held by professor J. Szabo. He planned to stay for another year at the University and pass his professorial examination, but as there was a free post for teacher of natural sciences at the Serbian gymnasium at Novi Sad, he went there in the autumn of 1871. Two years later he passed professorial examination. He taught his pupils with the same enthusiasm in the classroom as well as in many field trips and excursions, and they loved him and highly respected. His main interest was in geology. His individual and systematic work on trachytes on Mt. Fruška Gora was published in 1873. This work earned him election as a member of the Hungarian geological society in 1874. Soon after that he published findings on trachyte occurrence in Petrovaradin in the Vienna Geological Bureau Journal, and due to it became corresponding member of that highly recognized institution. His main work on geology of Mt. Fruška Gora was published in Hungarian language, in 1876, consisting of two volumes: 1. On magmatic rocks 2. On sedimentary rocks. Greater part of his work on sedimentary rocks was translked into Serbian language by M. Krečarević, and was published in 1881. In Vienna, Popovi6 published another paper on findings of gabro at different locations on Mt. Fruška Gora. From August 14 to September 20, 1874 A.V. Popović accompanied professor J. Szabo on his trip to the Principality of Serbia. Their main interest was in trachytes rocks, but they also collected and noted other nearby rocks. All the findings gained during this trip were later on prepared and published in his work "Geological notes on Serbia" (1875). This is one of the most important works of Popović, voluminous one, especially bearing in mind the time it was published. It represented, along with publications of Josif Pančić, very solid basis for our geological science, especially as it tested scientific terminology used in geology and mineralogy (originally, Pančić theoretically developed this terminology in his textbook). Another significance of this work is that, for the first time, many facts on geology of Serbia were presented and those facts later on, were cited as data on geology of some parts of terrain. His published works on geology clearly denote that he had systematically worked on his long-term scientific and research plan, with the main objective to "Find out geological connections between Mt. Fruška Gora and the Balkan Peninsula" , as his brother Stevan put it. Popović was not polyhistor like many others in that time (like Paneld, for example), but in science he was clearly determined for geological research. This is the reason why there are not many written works of A. Popović, but everything that he wrote was on geology. The subject of those works, its quality, undoubtedly lead to conclusion that he acted as genuine and the first professional Serbian geologist. His works on Mt. Fruška Gora and Serbia are cited even today. In his best years, at the height of his strength and creative ability, when he had widely opened the door of science and was even preparing his doctoral dissertation, dangerous and incurable disease, tuberculosis, took his life away. He died a month before he was thirty. His family, friends, scientific associations and the whole Serbian people, felt an enormous sorrow for his loss.