VIDMAR, Milan
* 22. 6. 1885, Ljubljana, Slovenia
† 9. 10. 1962, Ljubljana, Slovenia
electrical engineer
Between 1902-07 V. studied mechanical engineering in Vienna and received the doctor's degree in 1909 with his theory of centrifugal pumps. In his professional life, he was fully committed to electrical engineering. Between 1912-13 he worked at the → Ganz plant in Budapest as the assistant of Otto Titusz → Blathy, one of the inventors and foremost experts on transformers which in turn became V's specialisation. His books on transformers, written mainly in German, were translated into several languages and used by European students of electrical engineering for decades.
Die wirtschaftliche Aufbau der elektrischen Maschine (1918) opened V. to a university career. From 1919 to 1957 he was a professor at the University of Ljubljana and at least twice prevented the closing of the only Slovenian university; he refused to submit to the pressure of the Serbs and later during WWII he stood up to the German occupation forces.
V. maintained connections with industry, but his primary commitment was to teaching and publishing. He researched electrical energy transmission, in particular using aluminium conductors. He also addressed electrical engineering, as well as science and technology as a whole as a constituent part of modern civilisation and culture. In addition to scientific papers, he also published contributions to popular science, essays and travel literature.
V. was an excellent chess player and according to his international accomplishments he was considered the best chess amateur of all time. He was a member of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts, which he also presided over during WWII. He was the founder and the first director of Ljubljana's Institute of Electrical Engineering, which was named after him in 1968.
