Nedeljko Košanin
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Nedeljko Koshanin ( Čečina / Vionica, near
Ivanjica Ivanjica ( sr-Cyrl, Ивањица, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 27,767 inhabitants. With an area of 1090 km2, it is the eighth ...
,
Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign 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 agre ...
, 13 October 1874 -
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, 22 March 1934) was a scientist biologist, university professor and academic at the Serbian Royal Academy, now the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...
. He was the manager of the Jevremovac Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden of the
University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...
He initiated the publication of the Gazette of the Botanical Institute and Botanical Gardens, which had collaborated with over 90 botanical institutions worldwide. He described many new plant species on his own or in collaboration with prominent botanists in the world, and foreign and domestic researchers named his newly discovered plant species out of respect for his work. After the "Josif Pančić era", his work marked the epoch (1918-1934) in the development of
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
in the country, known as the "Košanin era". He was politically active. For over thirty years he actively participated in the labour movement and fought for national and labour rights.


Biography

He was born on a farm in the village of Čečina, and according to some sources in the neighbouring Vionica near
Ivanjica Ivanjica ( sr-Cyrl, Ивањица, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 27,767 inhabitants. With an area of 1090 km2, it is the eighth ...
to parents Stana and Stevan. His parents enrolled him in an elementary school in Pridvorica, ten kilometres away from home, which he completed in 1887. After that, he enrolled in the
Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2022 census, the city proper has a popu ...
Grammar School, but very soon after that, he transferred to the First Belgrade Grammar School, and graduated in 1895. He also graduated from the Department of
Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
at the
Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
(''Velika škola'') in Belgrade four years later (1899). As a socialist, a member of the Serbian Social Democratic Party, he could not get a job in the civil service. He rented a steam mill in Rakovica and at one time engaged in the milling industry. At the end of 1899, however, he managed to join the
civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
and for a short time worked as a professor-traineeand a substitute teacher at the Second Belgrade Gymnasium. He left the civil service to pursue his studies abroad. He spent 1900–1902 in
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
at the Laboratory for Plant Physiology, and then, in 1903–1905, as a botany assistant at the Leipzig College of Medicine, with the German plant physiologist
Wilhelm Pfeffer Wilhelm Friedrich Philipp Pfeffer (9 March 1845 – 31 January 1920) was a German botanist and plant physiology, plant physiologist born in Grebenstein. Academic career He studied chemistry and pharmacy at the University of Göttingen, where hi ...
). He defended his doctoral dissertation with Pfeffer in 1905 on "The effect of temperature and air pressure on leaf position" (''Über den Einfluss von Temperatur und Ätherdampf auf die Lage der Laubblätter''). He passed the professor's exam in Belgrade in 1905. Upon his return to
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
, he worked as a substitute lecturer at the ''Bogoslovija Svetog Save'' (School of Theology of
Saint Sava Saint Sava (, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; Glagolitic: ; ; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1235/6), known as the Enlightener or the Illuminator, was a Serbs, Serbian prince and Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox monk, abbot of Studenica Monastery, Studeni ...
), as a temporary lecturer (1906) and then as permanent (1908) Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Belgrade.He was also selected as an assistant professor at the University of Belgrade's Jevremovac Botanical Institute, from which he was promoted to full professor. Since he no longer had the conditions in Belgrade to continue his research in the field of
physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
, because it required a well-equipped laboratory, he devoted himself to natural history. As early as 1898, as a student with Zoology professor Živojin Đorđević in Belgrade, he studied the insects of the
Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...
in Serbia. He continued these studies in 1904, and a list of hardliners was published in the ''Educational Gazette'' in December of the same year. The list contained 849 species, grouped into 409
genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
and 49 families. He participated in the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
as a company commander in the rank of captain, in the Drina Division. While a soldier in northern
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
in 1913 he studied the plants in that territory and published the results of his studies in the paper "On the vegetation of northeastern Albania" (1914).
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
found him in
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
with his family. He spent the war in captivity, at the Schlosberg prison in Graz. He was married to
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
's aunt, Adolfine Kaufler.


Professor, scholar, academic

In 1912 he became an associate professor, and after his captivity in 1921 he was a full professor at the University of Belgrade and the director of the Jevremovac Botanical Institute and Botanical Garden. In the school year 1927/28 he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy.He examined the origin of Dajic Lake on Golija, together with
Josif Pančić Josif Pančić ( sr-cyr, Јосиф Панчић; April 17, 1814 – February 25, 1888) was a Serbian botanist, a doctor of medicine, a lecturer at the Great School (the future University of Belgrade), and the first president of the Serbian Roya ...
and
Jovan Cvijić Jovan Cvijić ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Цвијић, ; 1865 – 16 January 1927) was a Serbs, Serbian geographer, Ethnology, ethnologist, university professor and academic. He was the president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, S ...
. He has written monographs on Lake Dajicand Vlasina Lake (1910).


Works

*''Geografija balkanskich ramondija'' (1921) *''Četinari južne Srbije'' (1925) *''Elementi vlasinske flore'' (1910) *''Spisak koleoptera u Muzeju srpske zemlje'' (1904) *''Vegetacija planine Jakupice u Makedoniji'' (1911)


Note

The standard author citation Košanin is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.


See also

*
Josif Pančić Josif Pančić ( sr-cyr, Јосиф Панчић; April 17, 1814 – February 25, 1888) was a Serbian botanist, a doctor of medicine, a lecturer at the Great School (the future University of Belgrade), and the first president of the Serbian Roya ...
* Sava Petrović * Lujo Adamović * August Kanitz


References


Cited works

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Košanin, Nedeljko 1874 births 1934 deaths Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts