Djordje Stanojevic

Chronology of Life and Works

February, 15th 2014

Vesna Vuksan

Professor Djordje Stanojevic is one of those people whose life and works we at the same admire and wonder how it is possible for a person to achieve all that in a lifetime. A man with multiple talents like Djordje Stanojevic had to have numerous interests. If we look at the most important things he achieved, we have got to ask ourselves: “When did he manage to do all that?”

The chronology of life and works of this great sedulous man will amaze us even more, and it may as well leave us puzzled. There are many reasons for that:

(1858)Djordje Stanojevic was born in Negotin on April 7th.
(1874)He finished junior high school in his hometown. He went to Belgrade and started First Belgrade High School.
(1877)He finished senior high school and enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, Science Department.
(1880)As a third-year student he wrote his first book The Starry Sky of Independent Serbia.
(1881)He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and became a teaching assistant to Kosta Alkovic, a physics professor. That year he participated in the First International Exhibition on Electricity in Paris at his own expense.
(1883)He passed teaching exam in physics, mechanics and German. He visited the Second International Exhibition on Electricity held in Vienna.
(1884)He was awarded a scholarship by the Military Ministry to continue his education for three years abroad.
(1885)He published his first expert paper in solar physics at the Paris Academy of Sciences.
(1886)He visited astronomical observatories in Greenwich, Cambridge and in Pulkov in Russia.
(1887)He was enhancing his knowledge with the help of professor Janssen in astronomical observatory in Medon near Paris. As a member of French expedition, Stanojevic visited Yaroslav region in Siberia where he photographed the total solar eclipse. He returned to Serbia and was elected a physics and mechanics professor at the Military Academy.
(1888)He published his book Absolute Measures.
(1889)At the invitation of French government he spent three months in the Sahara desert as the leader of a group which examined solar activities. He participated in the International Congress on Solar Physics in Paris. He became secretary of the International Association for Scientific Photography.
(1890)He participated in a famous debate about the introduction of electric street lighting with professor Marko Leko, who was an advocate of gas lighting. He became the president of the Belgrade municipality commission for the introduction of electric lighting.
(1891)He was the construction work inspector of the first public electric power plant in Belgrade.
(1892)He organized Tesla’s visit to Belgrade. He sees Tesla to Budapest.
(1893)He was elected a physics professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Belgrade. On October 6th he attended the opening of the first thermal power plant in Belgrade, i.e. the first electric power plant in central Serbia.
(1894)He published Nikola Tesla and his Inventions which is the first book about Tesla published in Serbia and the second in the world.
(1895)He published two books: From the Science of Light and Cosmic Energy and Modern Physics.
(1896)He published a scientific paper “Central Forces in Nature” in Paris Academy of Sciences.
(1897)He published a university coursebook “Experimental Physics”.
(1899)He brought the first X-ray generator to Belgrade.
(1900)He participated in design and construction of the hydroelectric power plant on Djetinja river in Uzice which was the first power plant in Serbia with Tesla’s three-phase electric power.
(1901)He published Electrical Industry in Serbia.
(1902)He published the first photomonography in our country Serbia in Pictures with his own photographs.
(1903)He participated in the construction of hydroelectric power plant on Vucjanka river and the first electricity transmission line in Serbia from Vucje to Leskovac.
(1904)He set up the first radio-telegraphic station in Belgrade and he made the first radio connection in Serbia.
(1905)He initiated work on the project called “Typical village houses in Serbia”.
(1907)He established the Commission for industry of coldness in Serbia.
(1908)He became a member of the International Committee for Esperanto.
(1909)He participated in design and construction of the hydroelectric power plant “Gamzigrad” on Crni Timok river. He became the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.
(1913)He became the rector of the University of Belgrade.
(1915)In Paris he published a paper called “Bombing of the University of Belgrade by Austro-Hungarian Artillery”.
(1918)In Paris he published a paper “An Aircraft and Natural Disasters”.
(1921)He died in Paris on December 24th while he was on a business trip. The aim of this visit to Paris was to get an aircraft for weather observations in Serbia [1].

Djordje Stanojevic had a lot of friends. One of his friends was Stevan Mokranjac, a friend from his hometown. Stanojevic was the president of the first Belgrade Choir (1889–1900) which was led by Mokranjac. Stanojevic had many friends among Serbian elite such as Paja Jovanovic, Jovan Cvijic, Sima Lozanic, Mihajlo Petrovic Alas, Nikola Pasic and Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj [2].

He was a wealthy man and he built a house in Belgrade, in Kneza Milosa St where. He lived there with his wife Stana who was a granddaughter of the Duke Bogicevic about whom Filip Visnjic sang in the Battle of Loznica. He had three daughters Natalija, Julka and Jelka and one son, Milos [3].

Рославцев Сања, Бечејац Лазар, „Проф. Ђорђе Станојевић, пионир електрификације у Србији“, Електропривреда Србије, Београд 2004 (МСТ Гајић), 54. стр, (Библиотека „Документи“, Едиција „Великани електропривреде“)
Димитријевић С. Милан, „Ђорђе Станојевић, Поводом 150. годишњице рођења“, Анали огранка САНУ у Новом Саду, број 4 (2008), стр. 77–83.
Трифуновић Драган, Живот и дело Ђорђа М. Станојевића, Београд 1992, стр. 462.