NARDIN, Julij
* 28. 12. 1877, Gorizia, Italy
† 15. 3. 1959, Ljubljana, Slovenia
physicist, inventor
After attending a secondary modern school, N. graduated in 1898, and began studying mathematics and physics in Graz and Vienna, also under Ludwig →Boltzmann in 1904. From 1905 to 1912, he taught physics at the secondary modern school in Idrija, from 1912 to 1920, at the classical gymnasium in Ljubljana, and until 1941, at the local technical secondary school. After being forced to retire during the war, the Faculty of Medicine in Ljubljana invited him to the post of first professor of experimental physics.
As an inventor, N. was engaged in alternative energy sources, seismology, radioactivity, telegraphy, telephony, and radiotechnology. He was also interested in aerodynamics and helped the Slovene aviation pioneers, Edvard →Rusjan and Franjo Bratina, as adviser. After the tragic death of →Rusjan in 1911, he began conducting his own aviation experiments. Together with his friend Rene Zei, from 1914 onwards N. was engaged in inventing a reaction water torpedo, two-stage rocket weapons, and an unmanned submarine.
Among others, he received patents for developing a relay for the wireless transmission of information (from 1912 to 1919), and for an electronic tube (1914).
