Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts

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The decorated facade of the Academy Palace, Zrinski square in Zagreb
The decorated facade of the Academy Palace, Zrinski square in Zagreb

The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Latin: Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, Croatian: Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. For most of its existence it was known as Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. JAZU).

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[edit] Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts

The institution was founded in Zagreb in 1867 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts[1]. The bishop and benefactor Josip Juraj Strossmayer, a prominent advocate of higher education during the 19th century Croatian national romanticism, set up a trust fund for this purpose and in 1860 submitted a large donation to the then viceroy (ban) of Croatia Josip Šokčević for the cause of being able to

“ converge all better minds ... to decide how to create a people's book in the Slavic south as soon as possible, and how it could encompass all branches of human science. ”

After some years of deliberations by the Croatian Parliament and the Emperor Franz Joseph, it was finally sanctioned by law in 1866. The official sponsor was Josip Juraj Strossmayer, while the first President of the Academy was the distinguished Croatian historian Franjo Rački. Đuro Daničić was elected for secretary general of the Academy, where he played a key role in preparing the Academy's Dictionary, "Croatian or Serbian Dictionary of JAZU".

The Academy's creation was the logical extension of the University of Zagreb, the institution initially created in 1669 and also renewed by bishop Strossmayer in 1874. Bishop Strossmayer also initiated the building of the Academy Palace in the Zrinjevac park of Zagreb, and the Palace was completed in 1880. In 1884, the Palace also became a host of the "Strossmayer Gallery" that contained 256 works of art (mostly paintings). The same is today one of the most prominent art gallery in Zagreb.

The Academy published the scientific magazine Rad (Croatian for "work") between 1867 and 1882, when each of the individual scientific classes of the Academy started printing their own magazines. A total of almost five hundred issues have been printed up to now. In 1887, the Academy published the first "Ljetopis" as a year book, as well as several other publications in history and ethnology.

Ivan Supek, Mihailo Petrović, Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger and Lavoslav Ružička were JAZU members.

[edit] Name changes

The Academy briefly changed name from "Yugoslav" to "Croatian" between 1941 and 1945 during the Axis client regime of the Independent State of Croatia.

It was permanently renamed "Croatian" in 1991 after Croatia gained independence from Yugoslavia.

[edit] Criticism

The Academy has been recently criticized to the effect that its membership and activities are based on academic cronyism and political favor, rather than on scientific and artistic merit. In 2006 this came to a head with the Academy's refusal to induct Dr. Miroslav Radman, an accomplished biologist, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, and an advocate of a higher degree of meritocracy and accountability in the Croatian academia. His supporters from within the Academy and the media decried the decision as reinforcing a politically motivated, unproductive status quo. Dr. Ivo Banac, a Yale University professor and a deputy in the Croatian parliament, addressed the chamber in a speech decrying the "dictatorship of mediocrity" in the Academy, while Globus columnist Boris Dežulović satirized the institution as the "Academy of stupidity and obedience". Dr. Vladimir Paar and others defended the Academy's decision, countering that it did take pains to include accomplished scientists, but that, since Dr. Radman's work has mostly taken place outside of Croatia, it was appropriate that he remained a Corresponding Member rather than a Full Member of the Academy.

[edit] Presidents

  • Franjo Rački (1866-1886)
  • Pavao Muhić (1887-1890)
  • Josip Torbar (1890-1900)
  • Tadija Smičiklas (1900-1914)
  • Tomislav Maretić (1915-1918)
  • Vladimir Mažuranić (1918-1921)
  • Gustav Janaček (1921-1924)
  • Gavro Manojlović (1924-1933)
  • Albert Bazala (1933-1941)
  • Tomo Matić (1942-1946)
  • Andrija Štampar (1947-1958)
  • Grga Novak (1958-1978)
  • Jakov Sirotković (1978-1991)
  • Ivan Supek (1991-1997)
  • Ivo Padovan (1997-2003)
  • Milan Moguš (2003-)

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ The adjective "Yugoslav" was coined in mid-19th century by the movement that sought national unity of the South Slavs from Austria-Hungary with their eastern neighbors. Its extent was likely ambiguous, eg. in whether or not it meant to include Bulgarians and Macedonians. Later the term became associated specifically with the country and peoples of Yugoslavia.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 45°48′33″N 15°58′43″E / 45.80917, 15.97861