Milan O. Raspopović was born on August 8, 1935, in the village of Martinići near Danilovgrad. He finished elementary school and gymnasium in Danilovgrad and Titograd in 1955. He completed his physics studies in Belgrade in 1959 and was among the most successful students of his generation. After graduating, he got a job at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences in Vinča. Two years later, he transferred to the XIV Belgrade Gymnasium, where he worked as a physics teacher until 1966.

 

He received his master's degree from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Physics, in Belgrade in 1965.

He defended his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1977. He was elected assistant professor in 1982, associate professor in 1986 and full professor in 1990.

 

​He actively participated in the founding of the first school for talents in Serbia - the Mathematical Gymnasium, which began operating in 1966. For the first four years, Raspopović taught physics and electronics at this school. He was elected the first director in a permanent employment relationship in 1970, and he remained in that position for 31 years and three months until his retirement in 2001.

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Milan O. Raspopović dedicated almost his entire working life – 38 years – to the founding and development of the Mathematical Gymnasium. Through his work and results he has become synonymous, both in the educational sector, as well as in the public, with this unique school, in which hundreds of Doctor of Science and an even larger number of Masters of Science have been educated. According to the number of international awards won in mathematics, physics, programming, and astronomy (more than five hundred), this school has no equal in the world.

 

When he retired, he continued participating actively in the promotion and advancement of the Mathematical Gymnasium (on a voluntary basis).

Along with his work at the Mathematical Gymnasium, Raspopović invested a lot of his energy, experience, and knowledge in writing textbooks. In terms of the number of titles, circulation, number of editions and period of use of his textbooks (half a century), he is unique in the history of our textbook literature. His textbooks have had and continue to make a significant contribution to the creation, design and raising of the level of teaching physics, especially when it comes to the application of this fundamental natural science in technology, informatics, medicine, practice, and everyday life.

Extremely commendable evaluations of the scientific work of Professor Raspopović were given by our famous scientists, philosophers, and university professors, which is discussed in detail in the book “Through Visionary Ideas to the Top, the creative path of Milan O. Raspopović”, by Prof. Dr. Miloje Rakočević, published by Zavod za udžbenike (The Institute for Textbooks) in 2012.

 

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

 

Milan O. Raspopović is the winner of prestigious awards and prizes, including the following: Tesla-Pupin medal, certificate of gratitude for the contribution to the improvement of work with young talents ETF BAFA, Sretenje Order of the third degree for special merits for the Republic of Serbia and its citizens in educational and pedagogical activities, several plaques and awards of the Zavod za udžbenike (Institute for Textbooks), Belgrade, recognitions from the Youth of the City of Belgrade and the Republic of Serbia, the Society of Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

He is an honorary member of the citizens of Idvor (birthplace of M. Pupin) and an honorary member of the Society of Physicists of Serbia.