Mirjana Vukićević-Karabin

Mirjana Vukićević-Karabin
Born(1933-11-25)25 November 1933
Died2 October 2020(2020-10-02) (aged 86)
Alma materUniversity of Belgrade
National Physical Laboratory of India
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsMihajlo Pupin Institute
University of Belgrade
Thesis Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances - SID and Methods of Their Detection and Study (1965)
Doctoral studentsTrajko Angelov
Olga Atanacković
Aleksandar Kubičela
Jelena Milogradov-Turin

Mirjana Vukićević-Karabin (25 November 1933 – 2 October 2020) was a Serbian astrophysicist who focused on ionosphere physics and solar physics. She founded the School of Astrophysics at the University of Belgrade.

Early life and education

Vukićević-Karabin was born on 25 November 1933 in Skopje, Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[1] Her father worked as an engineer on the construction of a hydroelectric power station.[2]

After attending primary and high school in Belgrade, Vukićević-Karabin studied physics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Belgrade,[3] graduating in 1957.[2] While still an undergraduate, Vukićević-Karabin worked in the ionosphere research group at the Mihajlo Pupin Institute in Belgrade, being appointed research assistant and then research associate after completing her undergraduate studies.[1][4] For the academic year 1962–1963, Vukićević-Karabin received a grant from the Indian Government and worked on her PhD thesis at the National Physical Laboratory (NPhL) in New Delhi, under Indian physicist Ashesh Prosad Mitra.[4] She defended her thesis, titled "Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances - SID and Methods of Their Detection and Study," at the Department of Physics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Belgrade in 1965.[1]

Career

Vukićević-Karabin's research focused on ionosphere physics and solar physics and she was a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the Commission for Solar Activity and Radiation and Structure of the Sun.[1][2] Her work was quoted in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Resolution which banned nuclear probes in the Earth’s atmosphere.[2]

Vukićević-Karabin founded the School of Astrophysics at the University of Belgrade in 1966,[2] working with French astronomers Jean-Claude Pecker and Evry Schatzman to establish undergraduate and graduate courses.[4] She was the department head until her retirement in 1996.[4] Vukićević-Karabin also participated in the foundation of the Hvar Observatory of the University of Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia, alongside Czechoslovakian scientists.[4] She gave lectures about astrophysics at the Kolarac People’s University (KPU).[4]

Vukićević-Karabin was a member of the editorial board of the publications of the Institute of Astronomy.[1] From June 2018 to June 2020, Vukićević-Karabin was editor-in-chief of the magazine Young Physicist.[4] She also wrote two university and two high school science textbooks.[4]

Death

Vukićević-Karabin died on 2 October 2020.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Mirjana Vukicevic-Karabin". Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics. University of Belgrade (in Bosnian). Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Vince, Istvan; Atanacković, Olga (2020). "Life, educational and scientific activities of professor Mirjana Vukičević-Karabin (1933-2020)". Serbian Astronomical Journal (201): 49–57. doi:10.2298/saj2001049v.
  3. ^ Trbovc, Jovana Mihajlović (2023). Naše znanstvenice: Kako so ženske soustvarjale znanost v Jugoslaviji (in Slovenian). Založba ZRC. p. 2089. ISBN 978-961-05-0701-7.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Janićević, Sanja; Knežević, Dragica; Stojanović, Maja; Bulat, Sanja (2023). "Activities and leading positions of women physicists in Serbia". WOMEN IN PHYSICS: 7th IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics: 4. doi:10.1063/5.0175671.