Đuro Pilar (April 22, 1846 in

Brod na Savi Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

– May 19, 1893 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

) was a Croatian geologist, palaeontologist, and professor and rector at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

Biography

Pilar had, with his mother (Tereza Čulić of

Derventa Derventa ( sr-cyrl, Дервента) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Posavina region, northwest of the city of Doboj. As of 2013, the town has a total of 11,631 inhabitants, while the municipality has ...

), a strong family relationship to Bosnia. His formal training was extensive. The first training he received was at Zagreb and

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

. Later, he studied at the

Université libre de Bruxelles The (French language, French, ; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the ''Solbosch'' campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the ''Plain ...

(from 1865, Natural Sciences), the Sorbonne (from 1869), and the École de Chimie (1869, chemistry) in Paris. He received his Ph.D. in 1868 and acquired a title of

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

. Since 1875 he worked as a regular professor at the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

(up until 1928 called ''Mudroslovni fakultet''). He was the director of the Mineralogical-geological Department of the People's Museum in Zagreb. He became a full member of the

Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

in 1875. Professor Pilar was the first rector of the University of Zagreb with background in

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, and also the first Croat to be the professor at the Department for Mathematics. He served as a dean in two mandates, as a rector of the university in the academic year 1884/1885, and as a prorector the following year. In 1874 he founded with his associates Croatian Climbing Society, and in 1885 Croatian Association for Natural Science. As a versatile geologist, Pilar studied waters and set the foundations of

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

hydrology. In his research he investigated earthquakes, speleological objects, and coal findings. As a skilled amateur chess player, he was one of the organizers of the Zagreb chess events, being a winner of the first chess tournament held in Zagreb in 1886. A street in Zagreb and an elementary school in

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

are named after him.

Publications

* ''Osnovi abisodinamike'' (1880) * ''Geološka opažanja u zapadnoj Bosni. Istraživanja god. 1879.'' (''

Rad JAZU ''Rad'' ( Croatian for ''proceedings'', ''work'') is an academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic disci ...

'', 16. book; 1882) * ''Flora fossilis Susedana'' (1883)

References

External links

Pilar's biography
at the University of Zagreb website
Pilars' biography
at the Faculty of Science website {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilar, Djuro 1846 births 1893 deaths Geologists from Austria-Hungary Rectors of universities in Austria-Hungary People from Slavonski Brod Rectors of the University of Zagreb Croatian geologists Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Representatives in the Croatian Parliament (1848–1918) Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Croatian paleontologists Croatian mountain climbers