Discovery of the MOHO layer is one of the greatest achievements in the history Croatian science
professer at the University of Zagreb
| Andrija Mohrovieiae Andrija Mohorovieiae was born in Volosko near Opatija in Croatia, on January 23, 1857. His father, Andrija came from Rukavac in Istria. He was a blacksmith who made anchors. His mother, Marija nee Po1eiae was born in Opatija. She died soon after Andrija’s birth. Andrija attended primary school in Volosko and grammar school in Rijeka and graduated with excellent grades. By the age of 15 he spoke English, French and Italian fluently. Later he learned German, Czech, Latin and Ancient Greek. He then enrolled in the department of mathematics and physics at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Prague, where he studied in the period of 1875 – 1878. One of his professors was Ernst Mach, the famous physicist. As a student in Prague he was secretary to the Croatian Academic Society “Hrvat”. Having completed his studies he was appointed teacher at the grammar school in Zagreb for one year (1879-80). In 1880 he was transferred to the secondary school in Osijek. On November 1, 1882 he was transferred to the Nautical School in Bakar, near Rijeka upon his own request. He worked as a teacher at the Nautical School in Bakar, teaching mathematics, physics and meteorology. In 1886 he was conferred the title of secondary school professor. In Bakar, in 1883, Mohorovieiae married Silvija Verniae, who gave birth to four sons – Andrija, Ivan, Stjepan and Franjo. During his stay in Bakar, Mohorovieiae came for the first time into direct contact with meteorology, which he taught to students. This stimulated his interest in the problems of this science. In 1887 he established a meteorological station and he maintained continuous meteorological observations. He also investigated the movement of the air and the clouds. Thus, he constructed the nephoscope, the instrument which enabled him to determine the speed and the direction of cloud movement. During his stay in Bakar, Mohorovieiae published six scientific papers. Mohorovieiae taught at the Nautical School in Bakar until 1891. At his own request he was then transferred to the science grammar school in Zagreb, where he became the director of the Meteorological Observatory on January 1, 1892. There he continued his research in meteorology, but after the turn of the century he focused his scientific activity on seismology which soon became his chief concern. He is today internationally recognized to be one of the great men of seismology and fundamental science from the first half of the 20th century. In 1893, having defended his dissertation “On the Observation of Clouds, and the Daily and Annual Cloud Period in Bakar”, he was awarded the doctorate of philosophy at the University of Zagreb. Soon afterwards he wrote the qualifying thesis for the position of privat-docent (unsalaried university lecturer), and in 1910 became titular associate professor. From 1893 Mohorovieiae taught courses in geophysics and astronomy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. From the academic year 1899/1900, according to the preserved documentation, he also held courses in meteorology and climatology at the Faculty of Forestry (2 hours lectures and 1 hour exercise. Until 1900 he also held lectures at the Higher School of Commerce, but considering the extent of his activities he, at his own request, was released of teaching. As early as 1893 he had become an associate member, and in 1898 a full member of the JAZU in Zagreb (today HAZU – Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts). In 1922 Andrija Mohorovieiae retired. He died in Zagreb on December 18, 1936. The boundary surface which separates the Earth’s crust from its mantle – the largest natural object on the Earth – was named the Mohorovieiae Discontinuity in his honour. In 1970 the crater on the invisible side of the Moon (diameter 55 km), as well as the asteroid No. 8422 in 1996, were also named after him. Recently the discontinuity between the crust and the mantle on the Mars and the Moon are also referred to as the Mohorovieiae discontinuity. Geophysical Institute at Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, the high school in Rijeka, primary school in Matulji and several streets in Croatian towns also carry his name. As only very few Croatian scientists of the international reputation ever, Andrija Mohorovieiae made his whole career in his homeland, where he is recognized as the founder of the Zagreb seismological school, the Croatian seismological and meteorological surveys, and of the public time service. Owing to the tradition he initiated, University of Zagreb is among the few in the world awarding a degree in seismology on the undergraduate level. On December 19, 1936, a day after the death of Andrija Mohorovieiae, the Zagreb paper Novosti published the following article:
References: Znaeenje Andrije Mohorovieiaea za razvoj geofizike |
| Among scientists studying seismology the famous Moho-layer (or Moho-discontinuity) of the Earth is well known. It was named after the great Croatian geophysicist Andrija Mohorovicic (born in Volosko, 1857-1936), professor at the University of Zagreb. His discovery was essential for understanding the inner structure of the Earth and the behavior of seismic waves. Together with the theory of forces due to Rudjer Boskovic, this is probably the greatest achievement in the history of Croatian science.
Let us cite a part of his biography from Willard Basom’s monograph A hole in the Bottom of the Sea, The story of the MOHOLE project, 1959/61, Doubledays, USA (p. 143):
Photo from an article by Mete Oner: Deepest borehole ever drilled ![]() Andrija Mohorovicic around 1902, photo from 150 godina Geofizickog zavoda, ur. Mirko Orlic, Zagreb 2011. Two Croatian names appear on the map of the Moon. The name of Rudjer Boskovic was given to a mountain on the visible side, and the name of Andrija Mohorovicic to a mountain on the dark side of the Moon.
Mohorovic made pioneering observations of rotor-type circulation in bora. For more information see the following article: Vanda Grubisic and Mirko Orlic: Eearly observations of rotor clouds by Andrija Mohorovicic [PDF], Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (vol. 88, 2007, str. 693-700) [many thanks to dr. Orlic, University of Zagreb, for the PDF] Source www.croatianhistory.net |
The MOHO Song.
It is interesting that there is also another top Croatian scientist, Zvonimir Janko (mathematician),
whose name appears in a “scientific” tune. The title of the tune is “Simple Groups”.
| U Pragu otkrivena spomen-ploea A. Mohorovieiaeu U nacionalnoj knji 3/4 nici Ee1ke Republike u Pragu, 22. rujna 2011. sveeano je otkrivena spomen-ploea hrvatskom znanstveniku Andriji Mohorovieiaeu u povodu obilje 3/4 avanja 100. godi1njice otkriaea Mohorovieiaeevog diskontinuiteta. U Klementinumu, Nacionalnoj knji 3/4 nici Ee1ke Republike u Pragu, 22. rujna 2011. sveeano je otkrivena spomen-ploea hrvatskom znanstveniku Andriji Mohorovieiaeu (Volosko, 1857. – Zagreb, 1936.) u povodu obilje 3/4 avanja 100. godi1njice otkriaea Mohorovieiaeevog diskontinuiteta. Takav projekt obilje 3/4 avanja ove znaeajne obljetnice pokrenuo je Geofizieki odsjek Prirodoslovno-matematiekog fakulteta Sveueili1ta u Zagrebu u suradnji s Dr 3/4 avnim hidrometeorolo1kim zavodom, Hrvatskim geolo1kim institutom, Nacionalnom knji 3/4 nicom Ee1ke Republike (Klementinum – Narodni knihovna Eeské Republiky) te Hrvatsko-ee1kim dru1tvom iz Zagreba. Nakon prigodnih govora, uz nazoenost predstavnika hrvatske i ee1ke akademske zajednice, te elanova Hrvatsko-ee1kog dru1tva, spomen-ploeu zajednieki su otkrili predsjednik Sabora Republike Hrvatske, Luka Bebiae, rektor Zagrebaekog sveueili1ta, prof. dr. sc. Aleksa Bjeli1, direktor Slavenske knji 3/4 nice pri Ee1koj nacionalnoj knji 3/4 nici, dr. sc. Luka1 Babka te prorektor Karlovog sveueili1ta u Pragu, prof. dr. sc. Jan Skrha. ![]() Memorial plaque placed in 2011 at the National Library Celmentinum in the Prague, Czech Republic,
where Andrija Mohorovieiae studied from 1875-1878. No, 1to je uopaee potaklo postavljanje spomen-ploee Mohorovieiaeu u Pragu? Naime, osim 1to se diei najstarijim sveueili1tem u Srednjoj Europi (Karlovo sveueili1te, utemeljeno 1348. godine), glavni grad Ee1ke u 19. se stoljeaeu razvijao kao sredi1te gospodarski najrazvijenije zemlje Habsbur1ke Monarhije, odnosno od 1867. Austro-Ugarske Monarhije. Zahvaljujuaei povoljnoj resursnoj osnovi ( 3/4 eljezna ruda, ugljen) i ekspanziji 3/4 eljezniekog prometa, Ee1ka se afirmirala kao industrijska regija-jezgra, a njezin glavni grad kao inovacijsko 3/4 ari1te iz kojeg su se 1irile civilizacijske tekovine u ostale dijelove te multikulturne monarhije. Kao najveaei i najrazvijeniji slavenski grad, Prag je bio sredi1te okupljanja, te kulturnog i politiekog djelovanja slavenskih naroda koji su tvorili veaeinu u etniekom sastavu dr 3/4 ave (Budimpe1ta se istovremeno profilirala kao poslovno sredi1te, a Bee kao kulturna metropola monarhije). Stoga je razumljivo 1to se upravo u Pragu razvila koncepcija o suradnji slavenskih naroda unutar Habsbur1ke monarhije (austroslavizam) te 1to je u njemu odr 3/4 an i Prvi sveslavenski kongres (1848. godine). |
| PROMOCIJA ZLATNIKA OD 1000 kn U EAST ANDRIJE MOHOROVIEIAEA Autor: Dr. sc. Julijan Dobriniae Hrvatska narodna banka je u suradnji s Hrvatskim novearskim zavodom izdala zlatnik, nominalne vrijednosti 1000 kn. Opis novca ![]() Slika 1 Lice i nalieje novca od 1000 kn
![]() – Na licu je unutar glatkoga 1irokog ruba prikazana Zemlja i u njezinom isjeeku Mohorovieiaeev diskontinuitet. Lijevo od Zemlje na rubu je hrvatski grb. Iznad Zemlje je polukru 3/4 no u dva reda natpis: REPUBLIKA HRVATSKA / 2007. Ispod je polukru 3/4 no nominalna vrijednost: 1000 KUNA. ![]() Source Hrvatski novearski zavod (Croatian monetary institute)
![]() Predstavljanje zlatnika u Opatiji |
Formated for CROWN by Darko (R)ubriniae
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