Commemorative Session in Honor of Academician Berberović - Departure of a great scientist

Thursday, February 14, 2019 - 16:00

At the commemorative session at the Academy of Sciences and Arts (ANU) of BiH in Sarajevo, family members, colleagues, friends and academic community representatives bid farewell to Academician Ljubomir Berberović, prominent scientist, biologist and geneticist, University of Sarajevo professor emeritus and full ANUBIH member, who passed away at the age of 86.

University of Sarajevo Rector, Prof. Dr. Rifat Škrijelj said that Professor Berberović from the very beginning of his academic work was a significant person for the University of Sarajevo and one of the people who are symbols of the UNSA and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH.

At the same time, he added, academician Berberović is one of the great personalities from the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who throughout his life was selflessly giving himself to the fullest.
Rector Škrijelj also pointed out that despite this loss for Prof. Berberović’s family, two other families lost a great man - the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH and the University of Sarajevo, whose Rector he was “in some difficult years from 1985 to 1989.”
- He was a very important personality for all of us, which obliges us with our actions for the future - said Rector Škrijelj.
Academician Dejan Milošević pointed out that academician Ljubomir Berberović, who has been a member of ANU BiH for more than 40 years, contributed to science, genetics in BiH and beyond, all over the world.
- Academician Berberović was in England at the beginning of his career, he learned from the best in that area - said Milošević.
He added that the attitude towards people in the way of dealing with science, his encyclopedic knowledge, was rewarded in both systems, and he was the winner of many awards.
Full professor at the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Science and Scientific Advisor at the Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Sarajevo, Prof. Dr. Kasim Bajrović said that Berberović was a full-time professor at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, where he taught courses in genetics, evolution, and anthropology. He was a distinguished professor, a socio-political worker, an academic ...
- What I would particularly like to highlight is his enormous contribution to the establishment of the Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology at the University of Sarajevo - said Bajrović, adding that Berberović gave an unselfish contribution to the establishment of this institution.
Bajrović says that it can be freely said that Berberović is "the creator and father of modern genetics in BiH," adding that he made a huge contribution in the education of staff at the University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
The president of the Association of Independent Intellectuals “Krug 99” Adil Kulenović recalled that Professor Berberović often repeated the idea of “how BiH has always been the God-given and never given away.”
- In that, he meant, first of all, that every morning, it was necessary to renew with the dawn what is the culture and way of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the renewal of communion between people and peoples and that is confirmation that the armies come and go, but if culture continues and mutual understanding of BiH people, will be Bosnia and Herzegovina - said Kulenović.
The joint commemorative session was organized by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the University of Sarajevo, the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Sarajevo, the Association of Independent Intellectuals "Krug 99" and the Serbian Civil Council.
The funeral of academician Ljubomir Berberović will be held at 15.15 at the city cemetery Bare.
Academician Ljubomir Berberović, University of Sarajevo professor emeritus passed away at the age of 86. He was born in 1933 in Sarajevo. He studied medicine, biology and philosophy at the universities in Ljubljana and Sarajevo. He graduated biology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (Department of Biology, Department of Mathematics, 1958). He was elected as an assistant in the same department in 1959. Since 1961, he has been permanently employed at the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Sarajevo.
He taught genetics, evolution, anthropology and other subjects at several faculties of the Sarajevo University, as well as at other universities in the country and abroad.
Academician Berberović is the author of a large number of scientific, professional and scientifically popular publications.
For the correspondent member of ANUBiH he was elected in 1978, and for the regular 1984. He was the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Mathematical Sciences ANUBiH (1990-1995), President of the ANUBiH Committee for International Relations (1984-1985) and Vice-President of the Academy (1999-2008).
He was elected a correspondent member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (2006) and an active member of Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (2007). He was Honorary Doctor Grand Valley State University (USA, 1989) and an Honorary Member of the PEN Center Sarajevo. Academician Berberović is the holder of numerous high awards for scientific, professional and social work.