Svetopolk Pivko

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Svetopolk Pivko (29 September 1910 – 13 October 1987) was a Slovenian aerospace engineer and respected professor in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He helped advance aircraft aerodynamics, led important research institutes, and taught at two faculties of the University of Belgrade.

Life
- Born in Maribor, then part of Austria-Hungary (now Slovenia).
- Studied mechanical engineering in Prague, Belgrade, and Paris.
- Earned a PhD from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1938.
- Died in Belgrade in 1987, while a retired professor and a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU).

Career
- Worked in the Zmaj aircraft factory; participated in a 1940 strike and was later mobilized in 1941.
- Took part in the Yugoslav resistance during World War II and served with the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) during the war, including time in Italy and the USSR.
- 1945: appointed assistant to the commander of the Yugoslav Air Force; led aerospace technical services and aviation industry efforts.
- Founded and was the first director (from 1947) of the Aeronautical Institute in Žarkovo.
- 1951–1953: senior aero-dynamics engineer and Deputy Head of the Research Department; returned to the Aeronautical Institute in 1953.
- Ended his military service in the JNA in 1964 as a colonel in technical aviation.
- 1968–1978: professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Belgrade; later also associated with the Faculty of Mathematics.

Research
- Early work in Saint-Cyr and Paris on vertical flight, leading to the so-called “Pivko effect,” a method describing how propulsion and wing aerodynamics can contribute to vertical lifting.
- Studied propeller and rotor aerodynamics at high subsonic and supersonic speeds, helicopter flight, and aerodynamic surfaces on wings.
- Investigated the influence of jet exhaust, trailing-edge effects, wing shapes, and airflows around propulsion systems.
- Authored numerous papers on aircraft propulsion aerodynamics and published monographs on airfoil and rotor theory.

Teaching
- Became a full-tenured professor in 1960 (Mechanical Engineering) and in 1962 (Mathematics) at Belgrade.
- Taught Statics, Kinematics, Dynamics, Vibration Theory, and Design at the Mechanical Engineering faculty; taught Analytical Mechanics and Aerodynamic aircraft design in graduate programs.
- Held leadership roles within the faculties and contributed to academic governance.

Awards and honors
- Medal Army Order II (1974) and the Order of the Red Flag (1965).
- Received various national and international honors and plaques.
- Member of several prestigious bodies, including the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), the Yugoslav Society of Mechanics, the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS), and GAMM (Applied Mathematics and Mechanics).

Publications
- Wrote six university-level books and three monographs, along with many papers.
- Published works cover aerodynamics, rotor and propeller theory, and aircraft design.
- His scholarly output includes numerous articles in Serbian and international journals and several works in French and Serbian.

See also
- Aeronautical Technical Institute
- Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Svetopolk Pivko is remembered as a pioneering engineer, a dedicated educator, and a key figure in Yugoslav aerospace research and higher education.