Mihajlo Pupin
Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin (October 4, 1858 – March 12, 1935), also known as Michael Pupin, was a Serbian physicist, physical chemist and philanthropist based inthe United States.
Pupin is best known for his numerous patents, including a means of greatly extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils (of wire) atpredetermined intervals along the transmitting wire (known as “pupinization”). Pupin was a founding member of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) on 3 March 1915, which later became NASA,[5] and he participated in the foundingof American Mathematical Society and American Physical Society.
In 1924, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography. Pupin was elected president or vice-president of the highest scientific and technical institutions, such as the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Radio Institute of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also an honorary consul of Serbia in the United States from 1912 to 1920 and played a role in determining the borders of newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.[6][7]
Early life and education
Mihajlo Pupin was an ethnic Serb,[8][9][10] born on 4 October (22 September, O.S.) in the village of Idvor ( in the modern-day municipality of Kovacica, Serbia) in the region of Banat, in the Military Frontier of the Austrian Empire, 1858. He always remembered the words of his mother and cited her in his autobiography, From Immigrant to Inventor (1925):
My boy, If you wish to go out into the world aboutwhich you hear so much at the neighborhoodgatherings, you must provide yourself with anotherpair of eyes; the eyes of reading and writing. There isso much wonderful knowledge and learning in theworld which you cannot get unless you can read andwrite. Knowledge is the golden ladder over which we climb to heaven; knowledge is the light which illuminates our path through this life and leads to a future life of everlasting glory.[11]
Pupin went to elementary school in his birthplace, to SerbianOrthodox school, and later to German elementary school inPerlez. He enrolled in high school in Pancevo, and later in theReal Gymnasium. He was one of the best students there; a localarchpriest saw his enormous potential and talent, and influencedthe authorities to give Pupin a scholarship.
Because of his activity in the “Serbian Youth” movement, which atthat time had many problems with Austro-Hungarian policeauthorities, Pupin had to leave Pancevo. In 1872, he went toPrague, where he continued the sixth and first half of the seventhyear. After his father died in March 1874, the sixteen-year-oldPupin decided to cancel his education in Prague due to financialproblems and to move to the United States.
When I landed at Castle Garden, forty-eight years ago,I had only five cents in my pocket. Had I brought fivehundred dollars, instead of five cents, my immediatecareer in the new, and to me perfectly strange, landwould have been the same. A young immigrant such asI was then does not begin his career until he has spentall the money which he has brought with him. Ibrought five cents, and immediately spent it upon apiece of prune pie, which turned out to be a bogusprune pie. It contained nothing but pits of prunes. If Ihad brought five hundred dollars, it would have takenme a little longer to spend it, mostly upon bogusthings, but the struggle which awaited me would havebeen the same in each case. It is no handicap to a boyimmigrant to land here penniless; it is not a handicapto any boy to be penniless when he strikes out for anindependent career, provided that he has the staminato stand the hardships that may be in store for him.[12]
Studies in America and Ph.D.
For the next five years in the United States, Pupin worked as a manuallaborer (most notably at the biscuit factory on Cortlandt Street inManhattan) while he learned English, Greek and Latin. He also gaveprivate lectures. After three years of various courses, in the autumn of1879 he successfully finished his tests and entered Columbia College,where he became known as an exceptional athlete and scholar. A friend ofPupin’s predicted that his physique would make him a splendid oarsman,and that Columbia would do anything for a good oarsman. A popularstudent, he was elected president of his class in his Junior year. Hegraduated with honors in 1883 and became an American citizen at thesame time.
After Pupin completed his studies, with emphasis in the fields of physicsand mathematics, he returned to Europe, initially the United Kingdom(1883–1885), where he continued his schooling supervised by JohnTyndall at the University of Cambridge. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Berlin underHermann von Helmholtz and in 1889 he returned to Columbia University to become a lecturer ofmathematical physics in the newly formed Department of Electrical Engineering. Pupin’s researchpioneered carrier wave detection and current analysis.[13]
He was an early investigator into X-ray imaging, but his claim to have made the first X-ray image inthe United States is incorrect.[14] He learned of Röntgen’s discovery of unknown rays passing throughwood, paper, insulators, and thin metals leaving traces on a photographic plate, and attempted thishimself. Using a vacuum tube, which he had previously used to study the passage of electricitythrough rarefied gases, he made successful images on 2 January 1896. Edison provided Pupin with acalcium tungstate fluoroscopic screen which, when placed in front of the film, shortened the exposuretime by twenty times, from one hour to a few minutes. Based on the results of experiments, Pupinconcluded that the impact of primary X-rays generated secondary X-rays. With his work in the field of X-rays, Pupingave a lecture at the New York Academy of Sciences. He wasthe first person to use a fluorescent screen to enhance X-raysfor medical purposes. A New York surgeon, Dr. Bull, sentPupin a patient to obtain an X-ray image of his left handprior to an operation to remove lead shot from a shotguninjury. The first attempt at imaging failed because thepatient, a well-known lawyer, was “too weak and nervous tobe stood still nearly an hour” which is the time it took to getan X-ray photo at the time. In another attempt, the Edisonfluorescent screen was placed on a photographic plate andthe patient’s hand on the screen. X-rays passed through thepatients hand and caused the screen to fluoresce, which thenexposed the photographic plate. A fairly good image was obtained with an exposure of only a fewseconds and showed the shot as if “drawn with pen and ink.” Dr. Bull was able to take out all of thelead balls in a very short time.[15][16]
Pupin coils
Pupin’s 1899 patent for loading coils, archaically called “Pupin coils”, followed closely on thepioneering work of the English polymath Oliver Heaviside, which predates Pupin’s patent by someseven years. The importance of the patent was made clear when the American rights to it wereacquired by American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T), making him wealthy. Although AT&T boughtPupin’s patent, they made little use of it, as they already had their own development in hand led byGeorge Campbell and had up to this point been challenging Pupin with Campbell’s own patent. AT&Twere afraid they would lose control of an invention which was immensely valuable due to its ability togreatly extend the range of long-distance telephones and especially submarine ones.
Research during the First World War
When the United States joined the First World War in 1917, Pupin was working at ColumbiaUniversity, organizing a research group for submarine detection techniques.[17] Together with hiscolleagues, professors Wils and Morcroft, he performed numerous experiments with the aim ofdiscovering submarines at Key West and New London. He also conducted research in the field ofestablishing telecommunications between places. During the war, Pupin was a member of the statecouncil for research and state advisory board for aeronautics. For his work he received acclamationfrom President Warren G. Harding, which was published on page 386 of his autobiography.[18]
Contributions to determining borders of Yugoslavia
By World War I, Pupin was as well-known for Serbian nationalism as science. He wrote that theassassination of Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 “was … prepared in Vienna” when Austro-Hungarianrule in Bosnia and Herzegovina began in 1878. Pan-Serb ideology was, Pupin said, “a natural heritageof every true Serb”.[19] As a politically influential figure in America, Pupin participated in the final decisions of the Paris peace conference after the war, when the borders of the future kingdom (of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians) were drawn. Pupin stayed in Paris for two months during the peace talk (April–May 1919) on the insistence of the government.[20]
My home town is Idvor, but this fact says little because Idvor can’t be found on the map. That is a small villagewhich is found near the main road in Banat, whichbelonged to Austro-Hungary, and now is an importantpart of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenians Kingdom. Thisprovince on the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, wasrequested by the Romanians, but their request wasinvalid. They could not negate the fact that the majorityof the inhabitants were Serbs, especially in the Idvorarea. President Wilson and Mr. Lancing knew mepersonally and when found out that I was originallyfrom Banat, Romanian reasons lost its weight.[21]
According to the London agreement from 1915. it was planned thatItaly should get Dalmatia. After the secret London agreementFrance, England and Russia asked from Serbia some territorialconcessions to Romania and Bulgaria. Romania should havegotten Banat and Bulgaria should have gotten a part of Macedoniaall the way to Skoplje.[20]
In a difficult situation during the negotiations on the borders of Yugoslavia, Pupin personally wrote amemorandum on 19 March 1919 to American president Woodrow Wilson, who, based on the datareceived from Pupin about the historical and ethnic characteristics of the border areas of Dalmatia, Slovenia, Istria, Banat, Medimurje, Baranja and Macedonia, stated that he did not recognize the London agreement signed between the allies and Italy.
Mihajlo Pupin foundation
In 1914, Pupin formed “Fund Pijade Aleksic-Pupin” within theSerbian Academy of Sciences and Arts[22] to commemorate hismother Olimpijada for all the support she gave him through life.Fund assets were used for helping schools in old Serbia andMacedonia, and scholarships were awarded every year on theSaint Sava day. One street in Ohrid was named after MihajloPupin in 1930 to honour his efforts. He also established a separate”Mihajlo Pupin fund” which he funded from his own property inthe Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which he later gave to “Privrednik” forschooling of young people and for prizes in “exceptional achievements in agriculture”, as well as for Idvor for giving prizes to pupils and to help the church district.[23]
Thanks to Pupin’s donations, the library in Idvor got a readingroom, schooling of young people for agriculture sciences wasfounded, as well as the electrification and waterplant in Idvor.[24]Pupin established a foundation in the museum of Natural Historyand Arts in Belgrade. The funds of the foundation were used topurchase artistic works of Serbian artists for the museum and for the printing of certain publications.Pupin invested a million dollars in the funds of the foundation.[23]
In 1909, he established one of the oldest Serbian emigrant organizations in the United States called”Union of Serbs – Sloga.” The organization had a mission to gather Serbs in immigration and offerhelp, as well as keeping ethnic and cultural values. This organization later merged with three otherimmigrant societies.[25]
Other emigrant organizations in to one large Serbian national foundation, and Pupin was one of itsfounders and a longtime president (1909–1926).
He also organized “Kolo srpskih sestara” (English: Circle of Serbian sisters) who gathered help for theSerbian Red Cross, and he also helped the gathering of volunteers to travel to Serbia during the FirstWorld War with the help of the Serbian patriotic organization called the “Serbian National DefenseCouncil” which he founded and led. Later, at the start of the Second World War this organization wasrehabilitated by Jovan Ducic and worked with the same goal. Pupin guaranteed the delivery of foodsupplies to Serbia with his own resources, and he also was the head of the committee that providedhelp to the victims of war. He also founded the Serbian society for helping children which providedmedicine, clothes and shelter for war orphans.[26]
Literary work
Besides his patents he published several dozen scientific disputes,articles, reviews and a 396-page autobiography under the nameMichael Pupin, From Immigrant to Inventor (Scribner’s,1923).[27] He won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Biography orAutobiography.[28][29] It was published in Serbian in 1929 underthe title From pastures to scientist (Od pašnjaka donaucenjaka).[30] Beside this he also published:
Pupin Michael: Der Osmotische Druck und Seine Beziehungzur Freien Energie, Inaugural Dissertation zur Erlangung derDoctorwurde, Buchdruckerei von Gustav Shade, Berlin, June1889.
Pupin Michael: Thermodynamics of Reversible Cycles in Gases and Saturated Vapors, JohnWiley & Sons. 1894.
Pupin Michael: Serbian Orthodox Church (South Slav Monuments) J. Murray. London, 1918.
Pupin Michael: Yugoslavia. (In Association for International Conciliation Amer. Branch —Yugoslavia). American Association for International Conciliation. 1919.
Pupin Michael: The New Reformation; from Physical to Spiritual Realities, Scribner, New York,1927.
Pupin Michael: Romance of the Machine, Scribner, New York, 1930.
Pupin Michael: Discussion by M. Pupin and other prominent engineers in Toward Civilization,edited by C. A. Beard. Longmans, Green & Co. New York, 1930.
Pupin Hall
Columbia University’s Physical Laboratories building, built in 1927, is named Pupin Hall in his honor.It houses the physics and astronomy departments of the university. During Pupin’s tenure, Harold C.Urey, in his work with the hydrogen isotope deuterium demonstrated the existence of heavy water, thefirst major scientific breakthrough in the newly founded laboratories (1931). In 1934 Urey wasawarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the work he performed in Pupin Hall related to hisdiscovery of “heavy hydrogen”.[31]
Honors and tributes
Mihajlo Pupin was:[34][35]President of the Institute of Radio Engineers,USA (1917)
President of American Institute of ElectricalEngineers (1925–26)
President of American Association for theAdvancement of Sciences
President of New York Academy of Sciences
Honorary member of German ElectricalSociety
Honorary member of American Institute ofElectrical Engineers
Member of National Academy of Sciences
Member of French Academy of Sciences
Member of Serbian Academy of Sciences andArts
Member of American Mathematical Society
Member of American Philosophical Society
Member of American Physical Society
TitlesDoctor of science, Columbia University (1904)
Honorable doctor of science, Johns Hopkins University (1915)
Doctor of science, Princeton University (1924)
Honorable doctor of science, New York University (1924)
Honorable doctor of science, MuhlenbergCollege (1924)
Doctor of engineering, Case School of AppliedScience (1925)
Doctor of science, George WashingtonUniversity (1925)
Doctor of science, Union College (1925)
Honorable doctor of science, Marietta College(1926)
Honorable doctor of science, University ofCalifornia (1926)
Doctor of science, Rutgers University (1926)
Honorable doctor of science, DelawareUniversity (1926)
Honorable doctor of science, Canyon College(1926)
Doctor of science, Brown University (1927)
Doctor of science, Rochester University(1927)
Honorable doctor of science, MiddleburyCollege (1928)
Doctor of science, University of Belgrade(1929)
Doctor of science, University of Prague (1929)
Medals
Eliot Kresson Medal, Franklin Institute (1902)
Herbert award, French Academy of Sciences (1916)
IEEE Edison Medal, American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) (1919)
Honorable medal, American Radio Institute(1924)
IEEE Medal of Honor (1924)
George Washington Award, Western Societyof Engineers (1928)
White eagle, first degree, Kingdom ofYugoslavia (1929)
Order of the White Lion of Czech-Slovakia(1929)
John Fritz Medal, American Association ofEngineering Societies (1931)[17]
Other
Pupin was pictured on the old 50 millionYugoslav dinar banknote.
Home page world web browser Google hasbeen dedicated on 9 October 2011, to 157thbirth anniversary of scientist Mihajlo Pupin.On the drawing in honor of the Pupin birthsymbolically represented as a boy and a girlwith two different hills talking on the phone.[36]
The Central Radio Institute was renamed the Telecommunication and Automation Institute “Mihailo Pupin” in his honor in 1956.[37]
A small lunar impact crater, in the eastern partof the Mare Imbrium, was named in his honor.[38]
He also served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society forScience & the Public, from 1926 to 1929.
Honorary citizen, cities of Zrenjanin, Ohrid[39] and Municipality of Bled[40]
Various streets and schools across Serbia are named after him; Boulevard of Mihajlo Pupin(in capital city, Belgrade) or the tenth Belgrade gymnasium – Mihajlo Pupin, beingthe most famous examples.
A road bridge over the Danube River in Belgrade was named Pupin Bridge in hishonor after the vote of the citizens.
Private life
After going to America, he changed his name to Michael IdvorskyPupin, stressing his origin. His father was named Constantine andmother Olimpijada and Pupin had four brothers and five sisters.In 1888 he married American Sarah Catharine Jackson from NewYork, with whom he had a daughter named Barbara Ivanka Pupinwho was born in 1899 in Yonkers, New York and died on August 2, 1962 in New York.[41][42] Pupin and his wife were married foreight years; she died from pneumonia at the age of 37.
Pupin had a reputation not only as a great scientist but also a fineperson. He was known for his manners, great knowledge, love ofhis homeland and availability to everyone. Pupin was a greatphilanthropist and patron of the arts. He was a devoted OrthodoxChristian
Mihajlo Pupin died in New York City in 1935 at age 76 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery,Bronx.
Legacy
He is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs.