Oton Kucera
Encyclopedia
Oton Kučera was a Croatian
astronomer
. He played a crucial role by popularizing science
and technology in Croatia. He was also the president of Matica hrvatska
and the author of several physics
handbooks for primary school and a series of popular scientific works from the areas of physics
, astronomy
and electrical engineering
.
as the first of thirteen children of Ida and Franjo Kučera, a teacher. His son Vlaho later claimed that Oton was born on December 31, 1856, but that pragmatic reasons (such as the army service) prompted his parents to move the date by one day. Oton celebrated his birthday on January 1, as shown by the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1927.
Oton's father was soon transferred, so the family left Petrinja and settled in Otočac
, where Oton spent his childhood and completed five years of primary school. He attended the secondary school in Senj
. Traveling over the mountain range of Velebit
to reach Senj from Otočac, the young man discovered his love and interest for mountains and the starry sky. He continued his studies in Vinkovci
, where he completed his secondary education in 1873.
As an excellent and talented student, Oton was given the Krajina
grant. He went to Vienna
, where he studied physics
, mathematics
and astronomy
, attending the lectures of the famous scientists Jožef Stefan, Ludwig Boltzmann
and Johann Josef Loschmidt
. He also went to the Vienna Observatory, which was managed by Karl von Litrow.
He was offered the post of the assistant, but patriotic and family reasons brought him back to Vinkovci, where he started lecturing at the local Gymnasium
at the age of 19. Two years later he passed the required teacher exam in Vienna.
and Gjuro Pilar
, he founded the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences in Zagreb
in the late 1885. He was still a teacher in Vinkovci. The Society published its Glasnik (Herald), where Kučera's first article, Man and Natural Science, can be found in 1886. It described the development of natural sciences.
Having moved to Požega
, Kučera started popularizing science, which he would do until his death. He founded the first observatory
in Požega. In 1892, his first book of popular science was printed, Notes on Magnetism and Electricity.
Popular science
flourished in the 19th century Croatia
, especially because the Croatian language
became prominent in local science. Kučera played a crucial role in popularizing science. He is popularly called the "Croatian Flammarion
" after his famous French counterpart.
Kučera believed that man has the same relationship towards the stars as towards his homeland, and that astronomy makes people think about the fundamental questions of life and forget the low passions, which endows it with great educational value.
in 1892, it was the start of his most prolific period. He taught at the Realna Gymnasium, where he created the first modern lecture room for physics in 1893. In the same year, he published another book, Weather: Notes on Meteorology
. In 1895, he wrote Our Sky, a book of popular astronomy published by Matica hrvatska
in a printing run of 12,000 copies. It was received enthusiastically and printed two more times during his life (1921, 1930). It earned him the award of the foundation of the count Ivan Nepomuk Drašković. In 1995, a hundred years after it was first published, the book had its fourth edition in Zagreb.
In 1899, Kučera wrote Physics for Beginners, a textbook with an appendix of astronomy and chemistry. He got his Ph. D. from the University of Zagreb
with a work on Marin Getaldić
and became a lecturer of higher mathematics, theoretical physics
and mechanics
at the Academy of Forestry in Zagreb, where he stayed until retirement in 1915. At the Academy, he introduced a two-year course of geodesy
, which he managed during the first year. That course would later evolve into the Zagreb Faculty of Geodesy.
In 1902, Kučera published Experimental Physics
for Secondary Schools and initiated the astronomy section at the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences. Still lecturing at the academy, he accepted the position of the head of the Zagreb Observatory
, created in 1903, which he had helped found. The astronomy section and the observatory were a great success, since they boosted the membership in the Society from 95 to 230. In 1924, Kučera became a member of the French Astronomical Society
in Paris
.
His book Waves and Rays was published in 1903. In 1907 he translated two textbooks, Scheiner
's Structure of Space and Walentin's Advanced Physics for Secondary School. Kučera was active in many other areas: he was the president of the first radio
club, a member of the literary committee of Matica hrvatska
, and the president of Matica from 1909 to 1917. From 1908 to 1911, he was the president of the Secondary School Teacher Society. He was a regular and popular lecturer at the Open University of Zagreb. Kučera was an editor of the Herald of the Croatian Mountaineering Society since its first issue. From 1892 to 1913 he was the secretary and then president of the Croatian Mountaineering Society. He was also a member of the Brethren of the Croatian Dragon
, with the honorific title "Dragon of Petrinja", and a working member of the Croatian Literary Society of St. Jerome.
, he returned to work, becoming the government officer for secondary schools. He managed the Zagreb Observatory again from 1920 to 1925, when he went into retirement for the second time. From 1924 to 1926, he was the editor of Bošković, an astronomical calendar.
Among many books he published in later life, the most important were published in the series of Modern Age Inventions: Movement and Forces. Notes on the Mechanics of Sky and Earth (1915) and Wireless Telegraph and Telephone (1925).
His daughter from his first marriage, Elsa, became a renowned psychologist. When his first wife died, he remarried and had three more children: daughters Mara and Nevenka and son Vlaho. In the last years of his life, family reasons made him sell the family house at Jurjevska Street 14 in Zagreb and move to a rented apartment in Mallinova Street. He died in Zagreb and was buried in Mirogoj, the main city cemetery.
Kučera made many contributions to the development of science and technology in Croatia, especially astronomy. When the Višnjan Observatory
discovered its first asteroid
on May 22, 1996, they named it (7364) Otonkucera
. Matica hrvatska
has an annual science award that bears his name.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. He played a crucial role by popularizing science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
and technology in Croatia. He was also the president of Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
and the author of several physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
handbooks for primary school and a series of popular scientific works from the areas of physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
.
Youth
He was born in PetrinjaPetrinja
Petrinja is a city in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. The city belongs to Sisak-Moslavina County .- History :The name of Petrinja has its roots in Latin petrus, meaning "stone"...
as the first of thirteen children of Ida and Franjo Kučera, a teacher. His son Vlaho later claimed that Oton was born on December 31, 1856, but that pragmatic reasons (such as the army service) prompted his parents to move the date by one day. Oton celebrated his birthday on January 1, as shown by the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1927.
Oton's father was soon transferred, so the family left Petrinja and settled in Otočac
Otocac
Otočac is a town in Lika, Croatia. It lies in the northwestern part of Lika, in the Gacka river valley. The population of the town is 4,354 as of 2001, with a total of 10,411 people within the municipality at large, the majority of whom are Croats ....
, where Oton spent his childhood and completed five years of primary school. He attended the secondary school in Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
. Traveling over the mountain range of Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
to reach Senj from Otočac, the young man discovered his love and interest for mountains and the starry sky. He continued his studies in Vinkovci
Vinkovci
Vinkovci is a city in Croatia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County. In the 2011 census, the total population of the city was 35,375, making it the largest town of the county...
, where he completed his secondary education in 1873.
As an excellent and talented student, Oton was given the Krajina
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
grant. He went to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where he studied physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, attending the lectures of the famous scientists Jožef Stefan, Ludwig Boltzmann
Ludwig Boltzmann
Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann was an Austrian physicist famous for his founding contributions in the fields of statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics...
and Johann Josef Loschmidt
Johann Josef Loschmidt
Jan or Johann Josef Loschmidt , who referred to himself mostly as 'Josef' , was a notable Austrian scientist who performed groundbreaking work in chemistry, physics , and crystal forms.Born in Carlsbad, a town located in the Austrian Empire , Loschmidt...
. He also went to the Vienna Observatory, which was managed by Karl von Litrow.
He was offered the post of the assistant, but patriotic and family reasons brought him back to Vinkovci, where he started lecturing at the local Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
at the age of 19. Two years later he passed the required teacher exam in Vienna.
Early works
In 1881 he published his first scientific works. Together with Spiridon BrusinaSpiridon Brusina
Spiridon Brusina was a Croatian malacologist.Together with Oton Kučera and Gjuro Pilar, he founded the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences in Zagreb in the late 1885.- Taxa described :* Drobacia Brusina, 1904...
and Gjuro Pilar
Gjuro Pilar
Đuro Pilar was an Croatian geologist, professor and rector at the University of Zagreb.-Biography:Pilar had, with his mother , a strong family relationship to Bosnia....
, he founded the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
in the late 1885. He was still a teacher in Vinkovci. The Society published its Glasnik (Herald), where Kučera's first article, Man and Natural Science, can be found in 1886. It described the development of natural sciences.
Having moved to Požega
Požega, Croatia
Požega is a city in western Slavonia, eastern Croatia, with a total population of 26,403 . It is the administrative center of the Požega-Slavonia County.-Geography:...
, Kučera started popularizing science, which he would do until his death. He founded the first observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
in Požega. In 1892, his first book of popular science was printed, Notes on Magnetism and Electricity.
Popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
flourished in the 19th century Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, especially because the Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
became prominent in local science. Kučera played a crucial role in popularizing science. He is popularly called the "Croatian Flammarion
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fiction novels, and several works about Spiritism and related topics. He also published the magazine...
" after his famous French counterpart.
Kučera believed that man has the same relationship towards the stars as towards his homeland, and that astronomy makes people think about the fundamental questions of life and forget the low passions, which endows it with great educational value.
The peak of his career
When Kučera moved to ZagrebZagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
in 1892, it was the start of his most prolific period. He taught at the Realna Gymnasium, where he created the first modern lecture room for physics in 1893. In the same year, he published another book, Weather: Notes on Meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
. In 1895, he wrote Our Sky, a book of popular astronomy published by Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
in a printing run of 12,000 copies. It was received enthusiastically and printed two more times during his life (1921, 1930). It earned him the award of the foundation of the count Ivan Nepomuk Drašković. In 1995, a hundred years after it was first published, the book had its fourth edition in Zagreb.
In 1899, Kučera wrote Physics for Beginners, a textbook with an appendix of astronomy and chemistry. He got his Ph. D. from the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
with a work on Marin Getaldić
Marin Getaldic
Marin Getaldić was a scientist from the Republic of Ragusa. A mathematician and physicist who studied in Italy, England and Belgium, his best results are mainly in physics, especially optics, and mathematics. He was one of the few students of François Viète....
and became a lecturer of higher mathematics, theoretical physics
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
and mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
at the Academy of Forestry in Zagreb, where he stayed until retirement in 1915. At the Academy, he introduced a two-year course of geodesy
Geodesy
Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal...
, which he managed during the first year. That course would later evolve into the Zagreb Faculty of Geodesy.
In 1902, Kučera published Experimental Physics
Experimental physics
Within the field of physics, experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines concerned with the observation of physical phenomena in order to gather data about the universe...
for Secondary Schools and initiated the astronomy section at the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences. Still lecturing at the academy, he accepted the position of the head of the Zagreb Observatory
Zagreb Observatory
The Zagreb Astronomical Observatory is the astronomical observatory located in Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and founded in 1903. It is managed by the Zagreb Astronomical Society; its main purpose is educational....
, created in 1903, which he had helped found. The astronomy section and the observatory were a great success, since they boosted the membership in the Society from 95 to 230. In 1924, Kučera became a member of the French Astronomical Society
Société Astronomique de France
The Société Astronomique de France is a French astronomical society that was founded by the astronomer Camille Flammarion....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
His book Waves and Rays was published in 1903. In 1907 he translated two textbooks, Scheiner
Julius Scheiner
Julius Scheiner was a German astronomer, born in Cologne and educated at Bonn. He became assistant at the astrophysical observatory in Potsdam in 1887 and its observer in chief in 1898, three years after his appointment to the chair of astrophysics in the University of Berlin...
's Structure of Space and Walentin's Advanced Physics for Secondary School. Kučera was active in many other areas: he was the president of the first radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
club, a member of the literary committee of Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
, and the president of Matica from 1909 to 1917. From 1908 to 1911, he was the president of the Secondary School Teacher Society. He was a regular and popular lecturer at the Open University of Zagreb. Kučera was an editor of the Herald of the Croatian Mountaineering Society since its first issue. From 1892 to 1913 he was the secretary and then president of the Croatian Mountaineering Society. He was also a member of the Brethren of the Croatian Dragon
Brethren of the Croatian Dragon
The Brethren of the Croatian Dragon is a Croatian historical and cultural society established in 1905.In 1907, the Brethren claimed to have found the remains of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan, and by 1919 those were moved to the Zagreb Cathedral. During the Independent State of Croatia,...
, with the honorific title "Dragon of Petrinja", and a working member of the Croatian Literary Society of St. Jerome.
Later life and family
Kučera went into retirement in 1915. In 1920, after the fall of Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, he returned to work, becoming the government officer for secondary schools. He managed the Zagreb Observatory again from 1920 to 1925, when he went into retirement for the second time. From 1924 to 1926, he was the editor of Bošković, an astronomical calendar.
Among many books he published in later life, the most important were published in the series of Modern Age Inventions: Movement and Forces. Notes on the Mechanics of Sky and Earth (1915) and Wireless Telegraph and Telephone (1925).
His daughter from his first marriage, Elsa, became a renowned psychologist. When his first wife died, he remarried and had three more children: daughters Mara and Nevenka and son Vlaho. In the last years of his life, family reasons made him sell the family house at Jurjevska Street 14 in Zagreb and move to a rented apartment in Mallinova Street. He died in Zagreb and was buried in Mirogoj, the main city cemetery.
Kučera made many contributions to the development of science and technology in Croatia, especially astronomy. When the Višnjan Observatory
Višnjan Observatory
Višnjan Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near the village of Višnjan in Croatia. It is headed by Korado Korlević.The observatory is credited by the Minor Planet Center with 1750 asteroid discoveries....
discovered its first asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
on May 22, 1996, they named it (7364) Otonkucera
7364 Otonkucera
7364 Otonkučera is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1245.1756362 days .The asteroid was discovered on May 22, 1996.-External links:...
. Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska
Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...
has an annual science award that bears his name.
Works
- Crte o magnetizmu i elektricitetu (Notes on Magnetism and Electricity, 1892)
- Vrieme, crtice iz meteorologije (Weather: Notes on Meteorology, 1893)
- Naše nebo (Our Sky, 1895)
- Valovi i zrake (Waves and Rays, 1903)
- Gibanja i sile. Crtice iz mehanike neba i zemlje (Movement and Forces. Notes on the Mechanics of Sky and Earth, 1915)
- Telegraf i telefon bez žica (Wireless Telegraph and Telephone, 1925)
Sources
- Muljevic, V. Physicist Dr. Oton Kucera promotor of technical sciences in Croatia, Hrvatski patentni glasnik, III, No. 5, 1996, Zagreb
- Kutleša, S. Oton Kučera (Petrinja, 1856 - Zagreb, 1931), Priroda No. 7-8, 1991-1992, Zagreb
- Oton Kučera : znanstvenik, popularizator prirodoslovlja i tehnike : 1856. - 1931., ed. by A. Getliher, Tehnički muzej, 1998, Zagreb