Who Was Milutin Milanković

Milutin Milanković (Dalj, 28 May 1879 – Belgrade, 12 December 1958) was a Serbian mathematician, astronomer, climatologist, geophysicist and civil engineer. He is best known as the creator of the astronomical theory of climate change, which gave a mathematical explanation of why ice ages and warmer periods alternate on Earth.

His scientific work rests on two major contributions. The first is the Canon of Insolation, which describes how much solar energy reaches different parts of the planet. The second is the explanation of long-term climate change through variations in Earth’s orbit and the tilt of its axis, now known as the Milanković cycles.

He was a full professor of celestial mechanics at the University of Belgrade, vice president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and director of the Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade. He is considered one of the most cited Serbian scientists of all time. This article follows his path from the family home in Dalj, through the construction sites of Vienna and wartime internment in Hungary, to the worldwide recognition that came only after his death.

Origins and Childhood

Milutin Milanković was born in Dalj, a village on the right bank of the Danube near Osijek. At the time it belonged to Austria-Hungary and today it lies in Croatia. He is most often said to have been born on 28 May 1879. Some sources give 16 May, which corresponds to the Julian calendar, so sources differ on this detail.

He came from a respected Serbian family. His father Milan was a merchant, landowner and local politician, and his mother Jelisaveta was born into the Muačević family. Milutin and his twin sister were the oldest of seven children.

His father died when Milutin was seven or eight, as sources differ. The children were raised by their mother, grandmother and uncle Vasa Muačević, who managed the Patriarchate’s estate in Dalj. The family also included uncle Andra Radovanović, an engineer connected with the Škoda factories. According to one source, his grandfather Uroš was a philosopher, which probably nourished a love of learning in the household.

Because of his frail health, he did not attend elementary school regularly. He learned at home from private teachers, relatives and family friends, among them philosophers, inventors and poets. This kind of education, often described as a classroom without walls, left a mark on his broad outlook on science.

Education

He completed the real gymnasium in Osijek in 1896. That same year he enrolled in the civil engineering department of the Vienna University of Technology, one of the most respected technical institutions in Europe at the time.

He graduated in June 1902 with a project for a reinforced concrete bridge. He defended his doctoral dissertation, titled “Beitrag zur Theorie der Druckkurven” (“Contribution to the Theory of Pressure Curves”), in 1904. This made him the first Serb to earn a doctorate in technical sciences at that institution. Because of its original approach, the work was published in 1907 in the respected German journal Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik.

In his memoirs he singled out Emanuel Czuber, who taught him mathematics, as a particularly important professor. Czuber would later help him at the most difficult moment of his life.

Engineering Career in Vienna

At the beginning of 1905, Milanković joined the Viennese construction firm Adolf Baron Pittel Betonbau-Unternehmung. He designed dams, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts and other reinforced concrete structures across Austria-Hungary. At that time reinforced concrete was a new material, and Milanković is counted among the pioneers of its use.

For his Viennese employers he also worked on a sewerage project for Belgrade. This was his first professional connection to the city where he would later spend most of his life.

He never fully abandoned engineering. Even as a distinguished scientist he continued to design, and according to one source, buildings across Central Europe were constructed using his calculations.

Still, fundamental science was what drew him. He wanted to find a mathematical law linking solar radiation and climate, so he began looking for a chance to devote himself fully to research.

Move to Belgrade

That chance came in 1909. On the recommendation of Mihailo Petrović and Jovan Cvijić, Milanković was elected professor of applied mathematics at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. The chair covered rational mechanics, celestial mechanics and theoretical physics. He turned down invitations from the universities of Vienna and Zagreb and became a citizen of the Kingdom of Serbia.

The decision had a price. His salary in Belgrade was ten times lower than in Vienna, so he took on additional structural calculations in civil engineering. Even so, he chose to devote himself to fundamental research.

By 1912 he had begun working on the question of solar climate and the temperatures of the planets. That same year he took part in the First Balkan War. He later became a full professor of celestial mechanics and the founder of the chair for that field at the University of Belgrade.

Internment During World War I

On 14 June 1914, Milanković married Kristina Topuzović, whom some sources call Hristina. They spent their honeymoon in his native Dalj. A few weeks later, in July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

As a Serbian citizen, Milanković was arrested. He was first interned in Nezsider (today Neusiedl am See in Austria) and then in Budapest. His situation remained serious until his wife travelled to Vienna and asked Professor Czuber for help. His intervention contributed to Milanković being allowed to work in the library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

In Budapest, Milanković continued the calculations he had begun in Belgrade. By 1917 he had published seven scientific papers on the mathematical climate of Earth and other planets. In this way he turned the years of captivity into one of the most productive periods of his career.

The Astronomical Theory of Climate

The question of why ice ages and warmer periods alternate on Earth had occupied scientists for decades. Milanković picked up where others had stopped. One earlier idea, that changes in Earth’s orbit affect climate, was put forward in the 1860s by the Scottish scientist James Croll. Milanković was the first to bring that idea to an exact mathematical formulation.

The Three Astronomical Factors

Milanković showed that the amount of solar energy reaching Earth is altered over thousands of years by three cyclical changes. The first is the change in the shape of Earth’s orbit, known as eccentricity, with a period of about 100,000 years. The second is the change in the tilt of Earth’s axis, with a period of about 41,000 years. The third is precession, the shifting of Earth’s axis, with a period of about 23,000 years.

These changes do not alter the total amount of solar energy reaching the planet, but they change how it is distributed across the seasons and latitudes. Milanković calculated this distribution for different parts of Earth and thereby created the basis for explaining the ice ages.

Books and Collaboration

He published the results of his calculations in a series of papers. The book “Théorie mathématique des phénomènes thermiques produits par la radiation solaire” appeared in 1920. In the early 1930s he also wrote about mathematical climatology in a handbook edited by Wladimir Köppen and other authors.

Over the years, the climatologist Wladimir Köppen was a close collaborator, and Milanković coordinated his work on climate history with the geophysicist Alfred Wegener. His calculations fit well with their conclusions about the climates of geological epochs.

Confirmation of the Theory

The fate of Milanković’s theory was unusual. Over the decades it went through periods of acceptance and doubt. The major turning point came in 1976, when James Hays, John Imbrie and Nicholas Shackleton published an analysis of ocean sediments in the journal Science. Their results showed that the timing of the ice ages matched the cycles Milanković had calculated. The 1982 symposium “Milankovitch and Climate” at Columbia University further confirmed the importance of his work.

Modern science does not claim, however, that the Milanković cycles are the only cause of the ice ages. The role of other factors, such as the concentration of atmospheric gases and the movement of ocean currents, remains a subject of research. Even so, his cycles remain a cornerstone of paleoclimatology.

The Canon of Insolation

The life’s work of Milutin Milanković is titled “Canon of Insolation and the Ice-Age Problem” (German: Kanon der Erdbestrahlung und seine Anwendung auf das Eiszeitenproblem). He borrowed the word “canon” from astronomy, where it denotes tables of solar and lunar eclipses. In it he brought together the results of his earlier papers and several decades of calculations.

The book runs to 626 pages and was published by the Serbian Royal Academy. According to sources, Milanković submitted the work for printing only a few days before the German attack on Yugoslavia in April 1941. Printing was completed in wartime conditions, and in one version of events the copies were taken by the German professor Wolfgang Sörgel, who preserved them. The work was not damaged.

In the Canon, Milanković calculated changes in Earth’s insolation going back thousands and hundreds of thousands of years. He also developed planetary climatology. He calculated the temperatures of the upper layers of the atmosphere, as well as the temperature conditions on Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon.

Reform of the Julian Calendar

Milanković also dealt with the calendar. The Julian calendar runs behind the astronomical year, so over the centuries a difference of 13 days built up compared to the Gregorian calendar. Milanković proposed a reform that would remove that difference and be more accurate than the Gregorian calendar.

He presented his proposal in 1923 at the Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople, convened by Patriarch Meletios IV. Gavrilo Dožić and Milutin Milanković played significant roles at the congress. The proposal was adopted unanimously on 30 May 1923.

The New Julian calendar matches the Gregorian one until the year 2800, but it is more precise over the long term. Its application, however, remained partial. Some Orthodox churches adopted it, while the Serbian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar. Milanković wrote about this in his report to the Academy and in his memoirs, and he also addressed the topic in his inaugural speech, “The Calendar of Earth’s Past”.

World War II

The occupation of Serbia in 1941 found Milanković in Belgrade. He withdrew from public life and devoted himself to writing. His autobiography “Memories, Experiences and Insights”, published in 1952, dates from that time. According to one source, he refused to sign the Appeal to the Serbian People and to support the occupation.

In the summer of 1941 he briefly served as secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of the Serbian Royal Academy.

Postwar Years and Academic Work

After the war, Milanković became a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences (SANU) in 1948. That same year he was elected its vice president, a post he held through three mandates until his death. From 1948 to 1951 he was director of the Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade.

Alongside specialist papers, he wrote for a wider audience. The popular science work “Through Distant Worlds and Ages” brought astronomy closer to readers without specialist knowledge. He was also the author of eight patents, among them an anti-aircraft projectile. Because of his work in that field, he is sometimes mentioned as a pioneer of rocket engineering.

In geophysics, some sources name him as a co-author of the theory of tectonic plates, thanks to his work on the shifting of Earth’s rotational poles. In his last years he withdrew from his duties as vice president of the Academy, but he remained involved in scientific life to the end.

Personal Life

Milanković was married to Kristina Topuzović, and they had a son, Vasko. Vasko Milanković, who lived in Australia, wrote the biography “My Father, Milutin Milanković” and translated parts of his father’s memoirs into English. Thanks to this, the memoirs are available to foreign researchers as well.

After arriving in Belgrade, Milanković first lived near the Hotel Moskva. Later he built a house he designed himself in the Professors’ Colony, which has since been declared a cultural monument.

Death and Burial

Milutin Milanković died on 12 December 1958 in Belgrade, in his eightieth year. According to some sources, the cause of death was a stroke. He was first buried in Belgrade, but in accordance with his own wish, his remains were transferred eight years later to his native Dalj, where they rest today.

Interesting Facts

• He was the first Serb to earn a doctorate in technical sciences at the Vienna University of Technology.
• He spent his honeymoon in his native Dalj, from where the outbreak of war led him into internment.
• He carried out the most important calculations for his theory by hand, without computers.
• NASA has listed him among the greatest scientists who studied Earth, though sources give different numbers, 10 and 15.
• His theory waited almost half a century for confirmation from the scientific community.
• He also wrote the popular science work “Through Distant Worlds and Ages”.

Awards and Recognition

• Corresponding member of the Serbian Royal Academy from 1920 and full member from 1924.
• Full member and vice president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1948 to 1958.
• In 1993 the European Geophysical Society established the Milutin Milanković Medal.
• A crater on the Moon, a crater on Mars and the asteroid 1605 Milanković are named after him.
• His selected works were published in eight volumes in Belgrade in 1997.
• His house in Belgrade has been declared a cultural monument.
• His birth house in Dalj has been restored, and the Milutin Milanković Cultural and Scientific Center operates in the village.

Legacy and Influence

The Milanković cycles are an indispensable concept in Earth science today. Paleoclimatology and cyclostratigraphy rest on them, and geologists, climatologists and astronomers use them. His work helps us understand what the climate was like in the past and how it might change in the future.

Milanković also remains a symbol of scientific perseverance. He created a large part of his work under conditions of war and internment, and received recognition only after his death. For that reason Serbian culture often cites him as an example of a scientist who gave the world an idea far ahead of its time.

Postage stamps bearing his likeness, and the streets, schools and awards that carry his name, confirm that Milanković has entered the shared heritage of Serbia and the region. His legacy is equally important for Serbia and for Croatia, where he was born.

Biography – Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Milutin Milanković?

Milutin Milanković was a Serbian mathematician, astronomer, climatologist, geophysicist and civil engineer. He is best known for explaining the ice ages through astronomical cycles, which are named after him as the Milanković cycles.

When and where was Milutin Milanković born?

He was born on 28 May 1879 in Dalj, near Osijek, in present-day Croatia. Some sources give the date 16 May, which is the date under the Julian calendar.

What is Milutin Milanković famous for?

He is famous for the astronomical theory of climate change, the work “Canon of Insolation” and the proposal for reforming the Julian calendar in 1923.

What are the Milanković cycles?

They are three periodic changes in Earth’s orbit and the position of its axis: eccentricity, axial tilt and precession. They change the distribution of solar energy on the planet and influence the alternation of ice ages and warmer periods.

What did Milanković do with regard to the calendar?

He proposed a reform of the Julian calendar that would remove the 13-day difference from the Gregorian calendar. The proposal was adopted at the Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople in 1923, but in practice it was applied only partially.

Was Milutin Milanković held in captivity?

Yes. At the start of World War I in 1914, he was arrested in Dalj as a Serbian citizen and interned in Nezsider and then in Budapest, where he received permission to work in the library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

When was the Canon of Insolation published?

The work was published in 1941 by the Serbian Royal Academy. It has 626 pages and was submitted for printing shortly before the start of the war in Yugoslavia.

When and where did Milutin Milanković die?

He died on 12 December 1958 in Belgrade. In accordance with his own wish, he was buried in his native Dalj.

Did he have a family?

He was married to Kristina Topuzović, and they had a son, Vasko, who wrote his father’s biography.

Conclusion

Milutin Milanković went from being a reinforced concrete engineer to becoming one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. He gave a mathematical explanation of why Earth’s climate changes across geological epochs, wrote the Canon of Insolation and proposed a calendar more accurate than the Gregorian. Recognition came only after his death, but today his name appears on craters, medals and in textbooks around the world.