Ognjeslav Stepanović Kostović (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Огњеслав Степановић Костовић) (1851 – 16 December 1916) was a Serbian

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He is credited with creating "arbonite" (i.e. plywood), the first "plastic" materials (e.g. gutta percha) pre-date 1906 plastic in the world.

Biography

He was born in

Wieselburg Wieselburg (; ) is a town in Lower Austria, Austria, located near the River Erlauf. Its name roughly translates to castle where two rivers meet, as there are two rivers that run together to create the Erlauf. Its population is approximately 4,200 ...

in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

to a

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

ian noble family residing in Pest in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

, but spent most of his life in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He is credited with creating "arbonite" (i.e.

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

), the first "plastic" materials (e.g. gutta percha) pre-date 1906 plastic in the world. Kostović

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ed the technology of the production of arbonite in the USA on 4 September 1906. In the early 1880s he designed and attempted to construct a

dirigible An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat ( lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding ...

(

airship An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...

),The creation of dirigibles
about 20 years before

Ferdinand von Zeppelin Graf, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (; 8 July 1838 – 8 March 1917) was a General (Germany), German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the ...

. His flight vehicle was destroyed in a fire and never tested in the air. He also developed and constructed a large

gasoline engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American and Canadian English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as Autogas, liquefied petroleum gas and Common ...

for his dirigible. In 1879 he demonstrated his flying models of a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

and

ornithopter An ornithopter (from Greek language, Greek ''ornis, ornith-'' 'bird' and ''pteron'' 'wing') is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. Though machines may dif ...

, while in 1881 approached the building of an aircraft. In the catalog of an aeronautical exhibition of 1911 and in the article of G.V. Piotrovski it is said that Kostović actually constructed a flight vehicle. The same was also said in A. Ewald's report in the Russian technical society on 12 March 1883. Kostović's 1883/1884 petrol engine (with carburetor) preceded and out-performed the Daimler-Benz equivalent. Ognjeslav Kostović lived with his family in

, Russia. He celebrated the of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

every year, and one of his regular guests was

Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...

. One of his daughters married a Serbian officer; during the

First World War 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 ...

she became, together with

Nadežda Petrović Nadežda Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Надежда Петровић; 11/12 October 1873 – 3 April 1915) was a Serbian painter and one of the women war photography pioneers in the region. Considered Serbia's most famous expressionist and fauvis ...

, a voluntary nurse. Two of his daughters lived in

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 ...

. When he died in December 1916 in

, the press reported that "a brilliant inventor and scientist has disappeared, a man who has, for many reasons, deserved that future generations remember his unusual destiny and scientific achievements".

References

External links

Ognjeslav Kostović - čovek koji je živeo u budućnostiMuzej vazduhoplovstva: Raskoš i tuga
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostovic, Ogneslav Stepanovic People from the Austrian Empire Immigrants to the Russian Empire Aviation inventors Engineers from the Russian Empire Balloonists from the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire Scientists from the Russian Empire 1851 births 1916 deaths

Biography

See also

References

External links