Greatest minds - Nikola Tesla

Master of lightning

Serbia is a country where some of the world’s greatest minds have been born and where they matured into people whose work has significantly changed the world we live in today.

Great Serbian minds, scientists and inventors have indebted not only Serbia, but the whole world as well. Everybody knows that the Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla was the “father of electricity”, and that he is the man who gave it to the world. Serbian “master of lightning” will be remembered as the greatest mind of the 20th century, a man whose scientific legacy still intrigues the world and poses a challenge for the new generation of scientists.

The world’s most accurate calendar is the work of another famous Serbian scientist, Milutin Milanković, thanks to whom today we know that the Earth’s climate is predominantly influenced by the factors coming from space, especially the Sun, and that this allows us to predict the changes and the arrival of the next ice age with great certainty. One crater on Mars and one on the moon were named after him, while NASA ranked him among the 15 scientists responsible for the development of the most significant theories regarding the science of the Earth, namely Earth motions and long-term climate changes.

Serbian scientist Mihajlo Pupin participated in the very founding of NASA. This notable Serbian physicist and physical chemist won the Pulitzer Prize and thus became the first Serb who was awarded with this prestigious award. Mihajlo Pupin reached the world fame for inventing the “Pupin coils”. 20 years after Alexander Bell, he patented an invention that perfected the phone and allowed us to talk across large distances, and hear each other clearly while enjoying the connection without noise.

This column is dedicated to people whose work and excellence should be known worldwide.