Serb. Astron. J. } 196 (2018), 29 - 36 UDC 929:52 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/SAJ1896029P Professional paper ALEKSANDAR KUBICELA· (1930 { 2017) { AN ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH PIONEER AT THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF BELGRADE L. C.· Popovi¶cand I. Vince Astronomical Observatory, Volgina 7, Belgrade, Serbia E{mail: [email protected], [email protected] (Received: February 25, 2018; Accepted: March 15, 2018) SUMMARY: Here, we give a short biography and summary of scienti¯c contribu- tions of Aleksandar Kubi·cela,a doyen of astronomy in Serbia, and an astrophysical research pioneer at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade. Additionally, we evoke some of our memories concerning scienti¯c collaboration with Aleksandar Kubi·cela. Key words. History and philosophy of astronomy { Obituaries, biographies 1. SHORT BIOGRAPHY From documents at the Astronomical Obser- vatory of Belgrade (Radovanac 2012) one can see that in the same year (1949) he was accepted upon On January 20, 2017 Dr Aleksandar Kubi·cela, his written request, to be employed at the Astronom- a doyen of astronomy in Serbia and one of the ical Observatory (as a student who is enrolled in the founders of astrophysical investigations at the As- ¯rst year of the study of astronomy)1. He received a tronomical Observatory of Belgrade, passed away. position of \Junior hydro-metheorogical technician" Dr Aleksandar Kubi·cela(nickname Aks) was and started to work at the Observatory as well to born on March 22, 1930 in Bela Crkva as the second study astronomy at the Faculty of Science of Bel- child of father Djuro and mother Maria. He spent grade University. his childhood and ¯nished his primary education in In 1952, he received a position as \Hydro- Bela Crkva (in 1941). After a break in education due geological technician". From the archive of the As- to World War II, he ¯nished high school (Gimnaz- tronomical Observatory, it can be seen that he en- ija in Bela Crkva) on June 21, 1949, as an excellent listed military service from September 1957 until student. November 1958, he again started to work at the He showed a great interest in astronomy and Astronomical Observatory from November 15, 1958 in the same year (1949), he moved to Belgrade, where as the \Technical sta®" of the Observatory (Docu- he started to study astronomy (at the Faculty of Sci- ment 919/1 of the Astronomical Observatory issued ence of Belgrade University). However, his ¯nancial on November 15, 1958), but now as a member of the situation was very bad, and he had sought for a job Division for Solar activity. (to ¯nance his studies). Naturally, ¯rst he tried to From the document (issued in 1960) about ¯nd a job at the Astronomical Observatory of Bel- the work validation of the Astronomical Observatory grade and asked the authorities of Belgrade Obser- sta® (¯lled by A. Kubi·cela),it can be seen that he vatory for such an opportunity. was involved in observations of variable stars, Sun °c 2018 The Author(s). Published by Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade and Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade. This open access article is distributed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. 1Document No 6708 of the Council for scienti¯c institutions of People Republic of Serbia issued on November 21, 1949. 29 ALEKSANDAR KUBICELA· (1930 { 2017) activity and work in preparation for the solar eclipse Kodaikanal Observatory with great help (and super- observations (February 15, 1961). He also wrote that vision) of K. V. Bappu. he was out of work around 30 days in order to pre- After his specialization in India, he came back pare exams. to the Belgrade observatory and was nominated as One of the central Aleksander Kubi·cela'stasks the head of the Astrophysical Group (again elected in 1960s was observing the solar eclipse (in February, by the Scienti¯c Council of the Astronomical Obser- 1961). He was very active in planning the observa- vatory, report was written by Prof. Dr. Mirjana Vuki- tions, and he proposed a new method for observa- ¶cevi¶c-Karabin,Pero Djurkovi¶cand Milorad Proti¶c). tions of solar chromosphere during the solar eclipse. Finishing the PhD thesis, he asked the Scien- To perform the observations, he asked for a project ti¯c Council of the Astronomical Observatory (No (to make a special instrument) and he was invited 1250, from November 26, 1973) to be elected to a to defend the project by giving a presentation to scienti¯c position. However, due to some adminis- the Committee for organization of Solar eclipse in 1961. The presentation was successful and he got trative issues and some unusual circumstances (in the archive, there are a number documents show- the project. He constructed the instrument (shown ing that it was a problem with administration, and in Fig. 1, left in the painting as the larger one) and some personal relationships), the Committee for the successfully observed the chromosphere during the writing of the report for his scienti¯c position was eclipse (see e.g. Kubi·cela1968, 1970). This work, formed in January 1976. The committee members as well as other activities in observational and in- · strumentation work, led to his promotion to a new were Prof. Dr. Branislav Sevarli¶c, Dr. Mirjana position. In 1962 (Document 246, February 23, 1962) Vuki¶cevi¶c-Karabinand Dr. Ilija Luka·cevi¶c. They he was promoted to the position of \Independent ob- wrote a positive report which was accepted by the server". Scienti¯c Council of the Astronomical Observatory He ¯nished studies at the Faculty of Science in 1979. Finally, in May 1979, he got the Senior Re- (major astronomy) on September 20, 1962 and got a searcher (Vi·sinau·cnisaradnik) position at the As- new position as the \Independent observer and the tronomical Observatory. He remained in this scien- person for scienti¯c analysis of observed data" in the ti¯c position until his retirement (in 1990). It is in- group for variable stars. On November 19, 1962, he teresting that, even though he had all needed results was elected in the position of \Junior Research Assis- qualifying him for the Research Professor position, tant". For this position, he was elected by the Sci- he did not apply for it. enti¯c committee of the Astronomical Observatory On personal request, he resigned from the po- after a positive report about his scienti¯c activity sition of the head of the Astrophysical Group in 1980, written by Dr. Ivan Atanasijevi¶cand Dr. Vasilije but he still actively participated in the work of the Oskanjan. group. His interest was in astrophysical research, After four years, in 1966, he was elected to ¯rst of all solar physics, and also the physics of stars. the position of \Senior Research Assistant" (the re- He also worked in development of instrumentations port was written by Pero Djurkovic, Milorad Proti¶c for the telescopes at Astronomical Observatory. He and Dr. Vasilije Oskanjan dated March 10, 1966; improved telescope instrumentation at the Observa- the report was accepted by the Scienti¯c Council of tory, for example he designed the telescope (Small the Astronomical Observatory in April 1966), and Refractor) for solar spectroscopy. Additionally, he soon after that (in June 1966) he became the Head paid interest in all ¯elds of astronomy, for example of the Astrophysical Group (which was formed in since 1978, he led project of Astronomical Observa- tory titled: \Physics of the motion of celestial bodies 1960). From the report for his new position, it is and satellites". clear that Aleksandar was involved in observations, One of the important activities of Aleksandar and showed special interest in the solar physics and Kubi·celawas popularization of astronomy. He was instrumentation. a very active member of the amateur Astronomical In 1967, there was an opening for scienti¯c Society \Rudjer Bo·skovi¶c",where he participated in collaboration between Yugoslavia and India, which publishing the popular journal \Vasiona" and wrote gave him an opportunity to obtain specialization in several popular texts for the journal. He also gave the solar physics. He got support from Yugoslav a number of popular lectures in Planetarium of the and Indian governments to spend 18 months (1968- Society. 1969) at the Kodaikanal Astrophysical Observatory, In 1990. he retired and o±cially ¯nished his at that time led by the very famous astronomer Dr. work at the Astronomical Observatory, but he con- Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu. K. V. Bappu advised tinued to work in astronomy and actively was in- his work at the Observatory, and he specializated in volved in the life of the Observatory and in popular- solar physics (mostly in solar granulations). The re- ization of astronomy. He was a member of the Sci- sults of this work and additional investigations were enti¯c Council of the Astronomical Observatory, and published in his PhD thesis (1973) entitled: \One continued to work with younger colleagues. It is in- spectrographic approach to kinematical picture of teresting to note that looking at ADS author query, super-granular motion" (Jedan spektrografski prilaz one can ¯nd 92 references of Aleksandar Kubi·cela kinemati·ckojslici supergranularnog kretanja) super- (which is incomplete, ¯rst reference is since 1968), vised by Dr. Mirjana Vuki¶cevi¶c-Karabin(Kubi·cela and out of these 92, 44 references are dated after 1990. This indicates Aleksandar continued to work 1973). In the preface of the thesis, he wrote that actively and that he was very productive after his most of the work presented in the thesis was done at retirement. 30 L. C.· POPOVIC¶ and I. VINCE Fig. 1. Aleksandar Kubi·cela(right) in the front of the painting \Solar eclipse in 1961" (painted by his brother, academy-trained painter Petar Kubi·cela).In the bottom left corner of the painting, he stands by the telescope he constructed specially for this event (see text).