AVČIN, France

A. studied electrical engineering at the University of Ljubljana and after acquiring the title of Doctor of Technology in 1938, he held lectures at the university. His career was interrupted by WWII, and during this time he joined the Partizan forces. In 1946, he was appointed associate professor at the university and in 1957 became a full professor.
His major contributions were in the field of metrology (the study of measurement), which he approached as the basis for harmonised development, and promoted his views both locally and internationally. At an international conference on weights and measures held in Paris in 1960, he proposed that the unit for magnetic flux density should be named after Nikola → Tesla. Despite huge opposition from some quarters, the forum adopted his idea.
A. was one of first technicians who realised the potential for technical solutions within the field of cancer treatment. His inventions include a magnetic lens for use in an electronic microscope, the electronic speedometer and a meter for measuring the path of ballistic missiles.
A. was also an excellent mountaineer and a dedicated member of the mountain rescue service. Among other things, he invented an electronic device to aid searching for missing persons in an avalanche, and he is famous for his crampons and a combination of a sleeping bag and bivouac. He was also a hunter, and invented the so-called ‘ABC-bullet’ that kills an animal instantly, on the spot.
In his work, A. was an enthusiastic advocate of environmental protection, which in his view required a long-term reorientation of technology for the welfare of people. His books Kjer Tišina Šepeta (1964) and Človek Proti Naravi (1969) – just like his famous philosophy »Think globally, act locally« - were both much appreciated and also critically opposed. His promotion of renewable sources of energy made him one of the first ecologically aware technicians.
His work in the fields of ballistics and in thunderstorm theory (thunderstorms as magnetic and aerodynamic generators of gigantic dimensions), remained unfinished.