Anton Melik

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Anton Melik (January 1, 1890 – June 8, 1966) was a Slovene geographer.

[edit] Biography

Melik was born in the village of Črna Vas, south of Ljubljana, Slovenia, at that time part of Austria-Hungary. Before and during World War I, he studied at the University of Vienna, graduating in 1916 in history and geography. Later he was employed as a secondary school teacher. In 1926-1927 he became a senior university teacher at the Faculty of Arts, one of the faculties of the University of Ljubljana, in 1932 a senior lecturer, and then in 1938 a professor.

In 1927 he received his PhD from the Faculty of Arts with his dissertation titled Kolonizacija Ljubljanskega barja (Settlement of the Ljubljana Marsh). Between 1938 and 1966 he was a professor of geomorphology at the Department of Geography at the University of Ljubljana, succeeding professor Artur Gavazzi in 1938. With his work in this field he established his well-known geomorphological school.

In 1935-1936, the prestigious publishing house Slovenska matica published his monumental monograph Geografija Slovenije (The Geography of Slovenia), in 2 volumes with a general regional part, later extended with 4 additional books between 1954 and 1960, with a detailed regional description of particular areas of the Slovene Lands: the Alps, Styria with Prekmurje and the Mežica Valley, the Sava Valley, and the Slovenian Littoral.

In 1946 the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts founded a geographical institute, renamed to Anton Melik Geographical Institute in 1976.

Between 1947 and 1960, Melik was head of the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Arts. Between 1948 and 1966, he was head of the geographical institute at the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts. Between 1946/1947 and 1949/1950, he was chancellor of the University of Ljubljana, and he served twice as dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1940/1941 and 1945/1946. He retired in 1966. He died in Ljubljana. His students remember him as a very strict professor.

His two brothers Franc (born 1885) and Ivan (born 1894) were killed in the so-called Kozler's Thicket (Slovene: Kozlerjeva gošča, named after its former owner, Peter Kozler) on November 25, 1943 together with 12 other victims by members of Slovenian Home Guard under the command of Franc Frakelj.

For his work on the geography of Slovenia and Yugoslavia, Melik received the Prešeren Award in 1947, 1949, and 1951. His only son Vasilij Melik is a renowned historian.

[edit] References

Anton Melik http://www.zrc-sazu.si/gi/anton.htm
Ivan Gams, William Morris Davis, Anton Melik, slemenski nivoji in pobočni procesi v Sloveniji (William Morris Davis, Anton Melik, level top ridges and slope processes in Slovenia), Geografski zbornik, XLI (2001). http://www.zrc-sazu.si/giam/zbornik/gams41.pdf
Primož Jakopin, Zbornik ob 80-letnici FF, 1919-1999, Oddelek za geografijo (Collection Marking the 80th anniversary of the Faculty of Arts, 1919-1999, Department of Geography). http://www.ff.uni-lj.si/hp/ff/zbornik/geografi.html