Milan Kurepa

Milan V. Kurepa
Milan V. Kurepa
Born	11 May 1933; FR Yugoslavia
Alma mater	University of Belgrade
	Scientific career
Fields	Atomic physics
Institutions	University of Belgrade
Doctoral advisor	Aleksandar Milojević

Milan V. Kurepa (1933–2000) was a renowned Serbian atomic physicist.

Biography

Kurepa was born on 1 May 1933 in town of

Vinca Nuclear Institute in Belgrade. Kurepa graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mathematics under Aleksandar Milojević, and later electrical engineering in the United Kingdom, under J. D. Craggs

. His thesis topic was slow electron scattering off atoms and molecules.

Kurepa then joined the

pedagogical

work at the undergraduate and graduate levels was highly valued. He was a coauthor of 12 university and 4 high-school textbooks.

In 1964, Kurepa joined the newly founded Institute of Physics at the University of Belgrade as a research scientist. There, he started the Atomic Physics Laboratory. Due primarily to Kurepa's leadership, the Atomic Physics Laboratory gained an international reputation in the field of electron collisions with atoms or molecules. At present, about a dozen of Kurepa's students are scientists and professors at leading universities in

UK, France, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States

.

He was an outstanding organizer, coordinating numerous domestic and international conferences. He served as president of many Yugoslavian academic institutions.

In 1994, Kurepa was elected the corresponding member of the

discovery of the electron

.

Kurepa fought for democracy in

Slobodan Milosevic

's regime, Kurepa founded in 1997 the Association of University Professors and Scientists, with the principal aim of fighting for the recovery of basic university freedoms in Serbia. He was AUPR's first president. The association has been especially active since 1998, when the University Act was introduced to abolish the autonomy of Serbian universities. AUPR has organized protest meetings at Serbian universities, published statements regarding university autonomy and freedom of opinion, appealed to international academic associations for intervention with the Serbian government, and engaged in similar activities.

During the 2000 electoral campaign, Kurepa traveled around Serbia with the students' movement

Otpor!

. Otpor awarded him a certificate, acknowledging him as "the most resistive professor."