November 26, 2009

The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is celebrating its 168 anniversary, as it was on November 26, 1841 that  Društvo srpske slovesnosti society, the predecessor of SANU, was founded. Speaking at the celebrations, Serbian President  Boris Tadić emphasized the quality of every state was inconceivable without the contribution of science, which is an important component of global prosperity, especially in  the fields of innovations, security and environment protection. More from Jelica Tapušković.

Društvo srpske slovesnosti was founded by Jovan Sterija Popović and Atanasije Nikolić, with the support of Prince Mihailo Obrenovića in 1841. 25 years late, the Basic Law of the Royal Serbian Academy was enacted, which meant the foundation of the Academy. The Law stipulated that the first academicians should be elected by the king and that they in turn should elect new ones. Eminent scientist Josif Pančić was elected first Academy president and as of 1887, academicians themselves elected full and part-time members. In 1947, the Academy changed its name into the Serbian Academy of Sciences and in 1960 it was named The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Today, it numbers 183 members – 106 full and 77 correspondent ones, and consists of eight departments, which is twice as many as it had when it was founded.

Speaking at the celebrations, Serbian President  Boris Tadić emphasized that the more than 100 years the Academy has existed as the central scholarly institution in Serbia testified to the scholarly tradition of our state and the existence of institutions which are an inevitable factor of every country’s progress towards a safe and prosperious future. The fact that all prosperous and emancipated societies owe their development and dynamics to knowledge and innovation makes the state policy of every country inconceivable without science. Even in the most difficult times, Serbia has endevoured to preserve its cultural, scientific, scholarly and educational institutions and SANU will always enjoy state support, he stressed.

Not even today are we satisfied with the material support given to science and investmetns placed in this vital social segment. We are doing everything to draw near to standards applied in the EU in this field as well and turn Serbia into a prosperous unit of sustainable development, a society of knowledge, compatible technologies, efficient education and scientific research, preserved environment and a recognizable cultural identity. We want to join the EU as a society with preserved identity. I do not see a different approach to European integratins and in that context SANU has a special importance, emphasized Tadić. He also said Serbia had a right and obligation to legitimatize its interests, above all the scientific ones, the interests of Serbs in the diaspora, the interest of the affirmation of cultural identity, etc. Therefore it is important to create a good and balanced budget policy and enact a good law on the Academy, which is to define the position of its institutions and contribute to the development of science in Serbia.

Speeches were also given by Academy President Nikola Hajdin and Science and Technology Minister Božidar Đelić, who spoke about SANU’s work in the past year and on its future plans. The celebrations were also attended by Deputy PM Jovan Krkobabić, Religion Minister Bogoljub Šijaković, Matica srpska  President Miodrag Popov, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije, Bishop of Backa Irinej, chancellors of universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Pristina and Novi Pazar, representatives of embassies, directors of institutes for scientific research, etc.