Мирко М. Милић : (1932–1993)

Abstract

Mirko M. Milić was born on April 21, 1932, in Galati (Romania), where his father, Mario, who originated from Dubrovnik (Croatia), worked as a maritime pilot maneuvering sea ships through dangerous waters of the Danube delta to and/or from the Black Sea. Due to political reasons (Cominform Resolution), Milić’s family was forced to leave Romania in 1948. He fi nished high school in Belgrade, in 1950, then graduated in 1956 with excellent grades (9.43 out of 10), and obtained M.Sc. degree (1963) and Ph.D. degree (1968), all from the School (Faculty) of Electrical Engineering (ETF), University of Belgrade. In 1956 he joined the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, fi rst as a Teaching Assistant, then as an Assistant Professor (1963), Associate Professor (1973), and Professor (1980). He was primarily teaching Circuit Theory, fundamental subject connecting all areas of electrical engineering, but also a number of other subjects in undergraduate and graduate studies, such as: Topology-Based Methods for Network Analysis and Synthesis, Selected Topics for Circuit Analysis, Nonlinear Circuits, Digital Signal Processing, Application of Computer System ECAP, Computer-Aided Circuit Design, and Dynamics of Measuring Systems. He introduced the course Electrical Modeling of Physical Processes, where he used well-known methods from circuit theory to solve diff erent non-electrical problems. He wrote several textbooks covering circuit theory and solved problems, and textbooks Graph Theory and Applications (co-authored by Academician. Dragoš Cvetković) and Electrical Modeling of Physical Systems. Mirko Milić also had an active role in teaching and research activities in the area of electrical engineering at the University of Niš and in the Military Technical Academy in Belgrade. From 1965 until 1967 he was on a British Council Scholarship at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London (UK). In 1977, he was invited as a visiting professor-researcher to the University of California, Berkeley (USA). Also, during 1990, he held a series of lectures in the Technical University of Istanbul (Turkey). He loved to work with students and to introduce research to them. With students (not only graduate, but also with undergraduate students) he analyzed and studied newest and top-ranked papers in the fi eld of the circuit theory. To popularize the circuit theory and motivate students for this subject, in 1990 he decided to establish a foundation for awarding talented students from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. He provided the founding by his own money. Unfortunately, his early death (in 1993) stopped these activities. His wife, Professor Miroslava Olujić, continued these activities and, aft er serious administrative diffi culties, she established the Foundation of Professor Mirko Milić in 2004 (more than 10 years aft er his death). Th e Foundation started in 2004 and each year (during the celebration of School Day, in December) the best senior student, having the highest grade in Circuit Th eory, and the student having the best published paper in the fi eld of circuit theory were awarded. Professor Milić was an extraordinary and passionate scientist. His work, encompassing a broad spectrum of the circuit theory, was undoubtedly well recognized and respected internationally. His comments, discussions, and reviews were profound, clear, and extremely valuable to his colleagues. Professor Milić made numerous scientifi c contributions. He was an academic who left an exceptional mark on the engineering science. His papers were cited by many authors in numerous scientifi c books and journals. He contributed to several areas of the fundamental circuit and system theory. The main characteristic of his research was “to be at least one step ahead of others”. He was one of the pioneers in the foundation of the spectral graph theory, having also published a textbook (with Academician D. Cvetković) in this fi eld. His papers cover a variety of areas, including topological-dynamic properties of passive and active networks, state-space descriptions of linear and nonlinear networks, qualitative analysis and bounds of the solutions of semi-state models, Lagrangian descriptions of nonlinear networks, numerical analysis, modeling, and signal processing. During the last years of his life, he was interested in neural networks, in particular cellular neural networks (CNN), where he suggested a novel CNN having only one active element per network cell. Among others, his result concerning unique solvability of linear time-invariant RLC circuits has proved to be one of the deepest results in the circuit theory. Two textbooks, two solution manuals with solved problems in the circuit theory, and numerous scientifi c papers (120 papers), published in the leading international journals and conference proceedings, have marked the productive period of Professor Milić’s life. Many people knew Professor Milić as a pure and precise theoretician. It is, hence, interesting that he had a patent submission entitled “Analog nth Order Filter Suitable for Integrated Technology”. Furthermore, although he preferred exact solutions in closed form over the numerical solutions, he recognized the importance of computer applications and in 1970s he established a course in computer program ECAP and a course in computer-aided design of electronic circuits. Also, he completed 5 technical reports. Professor Milić was an active member of several international and Yugoslav scientifi c and professional societies and committees, and chair and member of a number of conference committees: ISCAS (International Symposia on Circuits and Systems), ISTET (International Symposia on Th eoretical Electrical Engineering), ECCTD (European Conferences on Circuit Th eory and Design). He was scientifi c secretary, program committee member, active participant and lecturer of international symposia ISYNT (International Symposium on Network Th eory). Symposia ISYNT were established by Professor Radoslav Horvat in 1968. Th ese symposia were held with (about) four years frequency till 1989, just before the disintegration of former Yugoslavia, gathering top-ranked scientists from circuit theory community, such as: J. Aggarwal, T. Bickart, H. Carlin, L. Chua, P. Civalleri, A. Davies, T. Deliyannis, C. Desoer, S. Dutta Roy, J. Fidler, A. Fettweis, M. Ghausi, E. Kuh, E. Laker, E. Lindberg, G. Martinelli, S. Mitra, G. Moschytz, J. Neirynck, R. Newcomb, A. Petrenko, T. Roska, R. Saal, J. Scanlan, G. Temes, Y. Tokad, M. Van Valkenburg, V. Zima, and others. Note that the respectable conferences ECCTD started in 1974, six years aft er ISYNT. He participated as invited lecturer in a number of high-level congresses, conferences and symposia on circuits and systems. He was a member of scientifi c committees for many conferences. Among others, he was a committee member and sessions chairman of almost all conferences ECCTD, including ECCTD in Davos (1993), just before his death. Mirko Milić was a permanent member of the Scientifi c Committee of ISTET and the Information Committee of SEFI (Société Européene pour la Formation des Ingénieurs), Senior Member of the largest and most respectable society of electrical and electronic engineers IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), and the member of the Yugoslav Society for ETAN (Electronics, Telecommunications, Computers, Automation, and Nuclear Engineering). He was also a reviewer of distinguished international journals: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, International Journal on Circuit Th eory and Applications, and Mathematical Reviews, as well of a number of Yugoslav technical journals. With Academician Rajko Tomović (1919–2001) and several colleagues from the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, he initiated the fi rst Seminar on Neurocomputing, held on December 20–21, 1990, in Belgrade. He helped the seminar series to continue, despite the disintegration of former Yugoslavia. During the very cold winter 1992/93, at the war time in the region of former Yugoslavia, power restrictions and enormous infl ation in Serbia and Montenegro, he organized the second Seminar on Neural Networks as a series of lectures held on Saturdays from November 1992 to May 1993. Under the leadership of Professor Branimir Reljin, the seminars continued from 1995 as biennial international conferences on neural networks and applications (NEUREL), technically co-sponsored by the IEEE. Professor Milić was a passionate scientist and teacher, always ready to explore new research fi elds. When working, he never spared himself nor anyone else working with him. He loved his work, both teaching and research, and always had numerous new ideas and plans. He was active just to the end of his life, but his sudden death prevented him from completing many of his projects. His unfi nished ideas and initial researches were continued by his associates, colleagues, and former Ph.D. students. During his work he was a member of a number of committees at the School of Electrical Engineering and at the University of Belgrade. He was a member of the Board for Computing Centre at the School of Electrical Engineering. Note that the School of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade was the fi rst academic institution in the broader Balkan region to establish a modern computing centre, in 1968. Also, he was a member of the editorial board of the Publications of Electrical Engineering Faculty, the scientifi c journal published by the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. For his work Mirko Milić obtained many awards and other acknowledgements from universities and societies. Among others, he gained Special Certifi cate from IEEE, in 1984, on the occasion of centenary of the IEEE Society, and Silver Medallion of the Technical University of Istanbul (Turkey). Th e conference NEUREL 2004, in Belgrade, was devoted to Mirko Milić, while in the conference ECCTD 2009 (Istanbul, Turkey), Professor Cem Goknar organized а special session devoted to M. Milić. Th e recently published textbook “A Short History of Circuits and Systems” (IEEE, 2016) contains a signifi cant part devoted to our late professors Mirko Milić and Radoslav Horvat. Mirko Milić made a clear distinction between his professional and private lives. Consequently, only a few of his colleagues knew him as an extraordinary expert in philosophy, arts, music, and as a jazz afi cionado. His illness (the diabetes), which he fought over a long period of time, was perhaps the reason that he worked even harder, as though he wanted to be “just one step ahead of the ultimate destiny that awaits us all”. In 1988, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Professor Mirko Milić had two main passions in his life: passion for science and passion for traveling. Last days of his life he passed just enjoying his two passions: he was in Davos (Switzerland) at the European Conference on Circuit Th eory and Design (ECCTD), where he participated as a lecturer and the member of the Technical Program Committee, sharing experiences and ideas with his colleagues from all over the world. Aft er the conference, he spent some time in Switzerland and suddenly passed away in Bern on September 9, 1993.