ER SRBIJA VESTI / AIR SERBIA NEWS
FIRST VICTORY GAINED IN NEW YORK
A GREAT SCIENTIST CONQUERS AMERICA
In the winter of 1874, Mihajlo Pupin landed at Castle Garden, where Franklin and Lincoln opened the door to America for him AIR SERBIA IS AWAITED BY THE INCREASE OF its fleet with the addition of an Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft this October. The new plane will be decorated with the image of Mihajlo Pupin, one of the greatest Serbian scientists of all time, and it will fly to Air Serbia’s long haul destinations, as well as to important European destinations where there is a greater demand. Air Serbia is continuing to expand its operations on the U.S. market and is set to establish direct flights between Belgrade and Chi- cago as of spring 2023. After a bre- ak of 32 years, the Serbian capi- tal will once again be linked directly to this American city that’s home to approximately 350,000 residents who hail from Serbia and the surro- unding Balkan countries. Given that the fleet’s new addition will bear the name and image of Mihajlo Pu- pin, and that it will probably mostly fly to the United States, here we re- call this great scientist who conne- cted Serbia and the U.S. in a specta- cular way... A mind hungry for knowledge “Fifty-eight years ago, in the late winter of 1874, a young Serb landed at Castle Garden. He was without land or property, without friends or influence, and without knowledge of the language of this country. Many would say that he had nothing, but that would mean failing to recognise the things that he had. He had go-
od health, character, ambition, a mi- nd eager to find knowledge and use it, as well as high ideals.” It was with these words that Dr Bancroft Geraldi began his honorary speech when one of the fathers of telecommunications, famous scien- tist and Columbia University profe- ssor Mihajlo Pupin, received the Jo- hn Fritz Medal. That was back on 27 th January 1932. Pupin said of himse- lf that he was a Serb by birth and an American by knowledge. The life jo- urney that led him from Idvor to the largest scientific awards and hono- urs is as exciting as his scientific heri- tage. Born in this small Banat village on 9 th October 1854, he died in New York on 12 th March 1935. This amazing story began on the last page of an illustrated newspaper
with an advertisement of steamship company Hamburg-America, whi- ch offered cheap, basic transporta- tion to New York for a price of twen- ty-eight florins. “I immediately decided to try my luck in the land of Franklin and Lincoln... I sold books, my watch, clothing, then a yellow leather and black fur hat to get the sum of mo- ney needed. I set off on the journey with a single suit on my back, a cou- ple of shirts and a Turkish red fez hat that nobody had wanted to buy. And why would a man trouble his head around warm clothing when going to New York? Isn’t New York a lot furt- her south than Pančevo, and wo- uldn’t one imagine that America is a warmer country when a man reca- lls those numerous pictures of naked
58 | Njujork » New York
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