Милан Недељковић : (1857-1950)

Abstract

Milan Nedeljković was born on September 27, 1875, in Belgrade, to a wealthy craftsman family. After finishing elementary school he enrolled the First gymnasium for boys, which lasted six years. At the age of sixteen, he finished gymnasium and enrolled the Belgrade College. In January 1876, he won his first award for a paper written on physics, and in June, he has already graduated philosophy. At the beginning of summer 1879 he got scholarship from the Ministry of education and went to Paris, obtaining the flattering title of the first Serbian astronomer. Till his departure to Paris he worked as a lecturer in mathematics and part-time professor in physics. According to the obligations defined by the Ministry of education, he had to study physics and astronomy. To enroll the School of astronomy he had to have diploma in mathematics, so he studied mathematics and physics for two years at Sorbonne and College de France. The next three years he spent at the School of astronomy of Paris observatory where he studied meteorology. At the studio of Gaultier he studied precise mechanics to gain the knowledge sufficient to install the instruments by himself. He returned to Serbia in autumn 1884 with a diploma in mathematics, astronomy and meteorology. On October 1884, he became assistant professor of astronomy and meteorology at the Belgrade College, and in 1886 he was elected full time professor. He initiated establishment of observatory and a net of meteorological stations. In May 1887, he rented a private house and there he set up "Provisory observatory", and he himself was covering the costs of its maintenance. Observations of seven terms were made and from September 1, 1888 another term was introduced. He himself, with the help of his family, made observations. At the same time he managed to purchase instruments necessary for meteorological stations and was searching for the appropriate building site for construction of permanent observatory. Thus, finally, the Observatory start operating on May 1, 1891 in a building intentionally constructed for such a purpose. The system of measurement used in the Observatory was among the best ones applied at that time in Europe. The most distinguished world experts paid him a credit for those measurements. Even in 1894, he used hourly measurements (while in Vienna only three climatology terms were used). Besides direct, automatic measuring of temperature, pressure and wind were introduced. The Observatory was the main institution for the whole net of meteorological stations (there were already 5 stations in Serbia by 1889) and the next year there were 12 of them, and in 1902 there were 24 meteorological stations. The same year Nedeljkovi6 applied special measurement of ground temperature, up to depth of 24 meters, different types of grounds (with or without grass cover), of air out of the shelter. He traced the level of variations of temperature of underground waters. Out of his own financial resources he prepared the area around the Observatory so that he could perform agrometeorological and phenological observations. The income of the Observatory was about 12.000 dinars, which was insufficient for purchasing instruments. The Observatory could not operate with its full capacity, but could only be used for meteorology and seismology. During the First World War the Observatory was plundered (except the library and archives). After four years of enormous efforts, state allowed him to repair it out of the war reparation means and he purchased instruments in Germany. He himself covered the costs of this trip to Berlin, Jena, Hamburg and other places where he purchased instruments. The state commission on war reparations allowed him about 3 million of gold marks, but he has bought instruments for about 4,5 million of gold marks, which clearly shows that he has spent considerable amount of his personal income. He was retired in 1924, at the time when the first instruments began to come to the Observatory. He was very angry and left the Observatory without visiting it ever after. He died on January 21, 1950. So, thanks to the instruments that Nedeljkovi6 has provided, Meteorological observatory as well as the new building of the Astronomy observatory were fully equipped. Thanks to Nedeljkovi6, big handmade Zeiss refractor was provided, and according to its power, it was the fourth in Europe of that time. His meteorological manuals were used till the Second World War. Between the two wars the Meteorological observatory was the central institution for gathering of data from the whole territory of the Kingdom and it was used for international excange as well.