Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Encyclopedia
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Serbian
: Српска академија наука и уметности / Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti; САНУ / SANU) is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia
today. An institutional outgrowth of the Društvo srpske slovesnosi (Society of Serbian Scholarship), founded in 1841, and of its successor, Srpsko učeno društvo (Serbian Learned Society), founded in 1864, the Serbian Academy was established in 1886 under the name of Kraljevska srpska akademija nauka (Royal Serbian Academy of Sciences).
In the past, the Academy's illustrious membership included Josif Pančić
, a well-known European botanist; Jovan Cvijić
, an internationally renowned anthropogeographer and geomorphologist; Stojan Novaković
, a distinguished historian, statesman and diplomat; Branislav Petronijević, a famous European philosopher, mathematician and paleontologist; Mihajlo I. Pupin, a noted Serbian-American inventor and a long-time Professor of Physics at the University of Columbia; Nikola Tesla
, a globally honoured Serbian-American inventor of the Tesla coil, alternating current and more than 700 other patented discoveries; Milutin Milanković
, an internationally acclaimed astrophysicist and paleoclimatologist; Mihailo Petrović-Alas, a major mathematician and phenomenologist; and many other outstanding scientists, scholars and artists, both Serbian and foreign. (E.g.: In 1864, the original Society of Serbian Scholarship elected to its membership such international revolutionary figures as Giuseppe Garibaldi
, Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Alexander Herzen
, and was immediately abolished for this action by the conservative government of Prince Michael Obrenović.)
was to appoint the first academic, who would then choose other members of the academy. The names of the first academics were announced by King Milan on 5 April 1887. At that time, there existed four sections in the academy, which were then called "specialised academies". Four academics were appointed to each section:
Academy of Natural Sciences
Academy of Philosophy
Academy of Social Sciences
Academy of Arts
dating back to 1841. The Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences was led by members, such as Jovan Cvijić
.
. The paper placed the imprimatur of Serbia's most prestigious intellectuals on the cause of militant Serbian nationalism and was instrumental in spreading anti-Albanian sentiment. Some consider the SANU Memorandum has purpose of reviving the Greater Serbia
n ideology and to put it into political practice.
According to American historian James J. Sadkovich SANU managed to galvanize Croats more than any Croatian far right
group.
In the ancient tradition of "catch the thief," "blame the victim" and "punish the harbinger of bad news", the Serbian Academy was publicly accused of fomenting and trying to provoke precisely what it wanted to remedy and prevent: the country's economic, political and psychological disintegration which threatens the very survival of Yugoslavia as a multi-national federation as well as the independence, freedom and security of all its component nations and nationalities.
Shortly thereafter, before the end of 1986, xeroxed copies of this unfinished manuscript, began to circulate throughout the country as well as abroad. Provisionally referred to as the Memorandum, the 74-page type-written text has been groundlessly vilified as a nationalist pamphlet and a call to counter-revolution....
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: Српска академија наука и уметности / Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti; САНУ / SANU) is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
today. An institutional outgrowth of the Društvo srpske slovesnosi (Society of Serbian Scholarship), founded in 1841, and of its successor, Srpsko učeno društvo (Serbian Learned Society), founded in 1864, the Serbian Academy was established in 1886 under the name of Kraljevska srpska akademija nauka (Royal Serbian Academy of Sciences).
In the past, the Academy's illustrious membership included Josif Pančić
Josif Pancic
Josif Pančić OSS was a Serbian botanist. He was a famous lecturer at the Great School in Belgrade and the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy. Pančić is credited for discovering the new species of coniferthe Serbian Spruce.-Biography:...
, a well-known European botanist; Jovan Cvijić
Jovan Cvijic
Jovan Cvijić was a Serbian geographer, president of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences, and rector of the University of Belgrade. A world-renowned scientist, Cvijić is considered the founder of geography in Serbia.-Early life and family:Jovan Cvijić was born on October 11 Jovan Cvijić...
, an internationally renowned anthropogeographer and geomorphologist; Stojan Novaković
Stojan Novakovic
Stojan Novaković , was a Serbian literary critic, scholar, politician and diplomat, and the foremost Serbian historian of nineteenth century, holding the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia on two occasions.He was born in the western Serbian city of Šabac and died in the southern city of...
, a distinguished historian, statesman and diplomat; Branislav Petronijević, a famous European philosopher, mathematician and paleontologist; Mihajlo I. Pupin, a noted Serbian-American inventor and a long-time Professor of Physics at the University of Columbia; Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
, a globally honoured Serbian-American inventor of the Tesla coil, alternating current and more than 700 other patented discoveries; Milutin Milanković
Milutin Milankovic
Milutin Milanković was a Serbian geophysicist and civil engineer, best known for his theory of ice ages, suggesting a relationship between Earth's long-term climate changes and periodic changes in its orbit, now known as Milankovitch cycles. Milanković gave two fundamental contributions to global...
, an internationally acclaimed astrophysicist and paleoclimatologist; Mihailo Petrović-Alas, a major mathematician and phenomenologist; and many other outstanding scientists, scholars and artists, both Serbian and foreign. (E.g.: In 1864, the original Society of Serbian Scholarship elected to its membership such international revolutionary figures as Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
, Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Alexander Herzen
Alexander Herzen
Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
, and was immediately abolished for this action by the conservative government of Prince Michael Obrenović.)
Foundation
Since the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts was founded by law (as the Serbian Royal Academy) of 1 November 1886, it has been the highest academic institution in Serbia. According to the Royal Academy Founding Act, King MilanMilan Obrenovic IV
Milan Obrenović was a Serbian monarch reigning as Prince Milan IV of Serbia from 1868 to 1882 and King Milan I of Serbia from 1882 to 1889.-Early years:...
was to appoint the first academic, who would then choose other members of the academy. The names of the first academics were announced by King Milan on 5 April 1887. At that time, there existed four sections in the academy, which were then called "specialised academies". Four academics were appointed to each section:
Academy of Natural Sciences
- Josif PančićJosif PancicJosif Pančić OSS was a Serbian botanist. He was a famous lecturer at the Great School in Belgrade and the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy. Pančić is credited for discovering the new species of coniferthe Serbian Spruce.-Biography:...
- Dimitrije Nešić
- Jovan ŽujovićJovan ŽujovicJovan Žujović was an anthropologist, known as a founder of geology in Serbia....
- Ljubomir Klerić
Academy of Philosophy
- Stojan NovakovićStojan NovakovicStojan Novaković , was a Serbian literary critic, scholar, politician and diplomat, and the foremost Serbian historian of nineteenth century, holding the post of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Serbia on two occasions.He was born in the western Serbian city of Šabac and died in the southern city of...
- Milan Kujundžić
- Svetislav Vulović
- Svetomir NikolajevićSvetomir NikolajevićSvetomir Nikolajević was Serbian writer and politician, a professor of the Belgrade's Grande École , the Serbian Royal Academy, Prime Minister of Serbia Svetomir Nikolajević (September 21, 1844, Raduša – April 18, 1922, Belgrade) was Serbian writer and politician, a professor of the...
Academy of Social Sciences
- Čedomilj MijatovićCedomilj MijatovicČedomilj Mijatović was a Serbian statesman, economist, historian, writer, politician, diplomat and one of the...
- Milan Đ. Milićević
- Ljubomir Kovačević
- Panta Srećković
Academy of Arts
- Ljubomir Nenadović
- Matija BanMatija BanMatija Ban was a Serbo-Croatian poet, dramatist, and playwright, born in the city of Dubrovnik, who became known as one of the first Catholics from Dubrovnik who expressed a Serb nationality...
- Mihailo Valtrović
- Davorin JenkoDavorin Jenkothumb|right|Davorin JenkoDavorin Jenko was a Slovene composer. He is sometimes considered as the father of Slovenian national Romantic music...
Predecessors
The Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences was the successor to the Serbian Learned Society (1864) with which it merged in 1892 and accepted its members as its own either regular or honorary members, its tasks and its place in scientific and cultural life. The same had occurred several decades earlier when the Serbian Learned Society took over the place and functions of the Society of Serbian Scholarship, the first learned society in the Serbian PrincipalitySerbian Principality
The Principality of Serbia was a semi-independent state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian revolution which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agreement between Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising...
dating back to 1841. The Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences was led by members, such as Jovan Cvijić
Jovan Cvijic
Jovan Cvijić was a Serbian geographer, president of the Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences, and rector of the University of Belgrade. A world-renowned scientist, Cvijić is considered the founder of geography in Serbia.-Early life and family:Jovan Cvijić was born on October 11 Jovan Cvijić...
.
SANU Memorandum
The SANU Memorandum (1986) edited by Serb intellectuals, as well as public officials, referred to in Part I of this Annex, expressed the plight of Kosovo's Serbs. The document was considered by many to be the heralding of a new ethnic nationalismNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. The paper placed the imprimatur of Serbia's most prestigious intellectuals on the cause of militant Serbian nationalism and was instrumental in spreading anti-Albanian sentiment. Some consider the SANU Memorandum has purpose of reviving the Greater Serbia
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
n ideology and to put it into political practice.
According to American historian James J. Sadkovich SANU managed to galvanize Croats more than any Croatian far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
group.
Today
Today, the Academy directs a number of scientific research projects which are realized in cooperation with other Serbian scientific institutions and through international cooperation.Reference
5. Edited by Sofija Škorić and George Vid Tomashevich, The Serbian Academy After A Century: An Institution at Risk?, published by The Serbian Heritage Academy of Canada, Toronto, 1987. This 77-page Canadian booklet reveals how in the late summer of 1986, the unfinished, unedited and unapproved draft of the incipient document was illegally removed from the Academy's drawers and published without authorization in tendentious selected fragments, quoted and misquoted, taken out of their original context and accompanied by some of the most vitriolic and vituperative political comments against the venerable institution ever printed in the Yugoslav press.In the ancient tradition of "catch the thief," "blame the victim" and "punish the harbinger of bad news", the Serbian Academy was publicly accused of fomenting and trying to provoke precisely what it wanted to remedy and prevent: the country's economic, political and psychological disintegration which threatens the very survival of Yugoslavia as a multi-national federation as well as the independence, freedom and security of all its component nations and nationalities.
Shortly thereafter, before the end of 1986, xeroxed copies of this unfinished manuscript, began to circulate throughout the country as well as abroad. Provisionally referred to as the Memorandum, the 74-page type-written text has been groundlessly vilified as a nationalist pamphlet and a call to counter-revolution....
See also
- List of SANU members
- Vojvodina Academy of Sciences and ArtsVojvodina Academy of Sciences and ArtsVojvodinian Academy of Sciences and Art or shortly...
- Institute for Balkan StudiesInstitute for Balkan StudiesThe Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is a division of Serbia's pre-eminent academic institution which focuses on the historical, social, and anthropological study of the Balkans and its peoples...
- Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsMemorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsThe Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts was a draft document produced by a 14-member committee composed by members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović...