Academician Ljubomir Berberović Passed Away

The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina informs the Bosnian public that Academician Ljubomir Berberović passed away in Sarajevo on 12 February 2019.

Academician Ljubomir Berberović, University of Sarajevo professor emeritus, was born in 1933 in Sarajevo. He studied medicine, biology and philosophy at the Universities of Ljubljana and Sarajevo. He graduated biology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo (Biology, Natural and Mathematical Department in 1958). He was elected as an assistant in the same Department in 1959. Since 1961, he was been permanently employed at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Sarajevo. In February 1964, he defended the doctoral dissertation Eobania vermiculata Species Microevolution on the Central Adriatic Coast and Islands, at the same Faculty. At the Organic Evolution with a Genetics subject, he was elected in June 1964 as an assistant professor, as an associate professor in January 1970 and a full-time professor in June 1975. He taught genetics, evolution, anthropology and other subjects at several UNSA Faculties, as well as at other universities in the country and abroad.

Academician Berberović is the author of a large number of scientific, exert and scientifically popular publications. Scientific papers by Academician Berberović are grouped into three basic thematic circles: (1) genetics of populations, with an emphasis on the study of human populations, (2) cariology and cytotaxonomy, with an emphasis on the study of freshwater fish and (3) history and philosophy of natural sciences. The papers on the genetic characteristics of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which examined several phenotypic systems of morphological and biochemical variations of human beings and groups, represent a significant contribution to the clarification of some general questions of the contemporary genetics of recent human populations (for example, the problem of the relationship between the degree of reproductive isolation and the evolutionary diversification of the population). Berberović devoted special attention to his study of the character and activity of some evolutionary factors, such as random genetic fluctuations (genetic drift). Some of the works in the field of human genetics are dedicated to medical-genetic problems.

The original findings in the field of genetics of human populations have found favorable reception and considerable interest in the scientific public and are often quoted in the literature. Research in the field of population genetics of the population of BiH under the leadership of Prof. Berberović grew into an organized and continuous team activity and achieved an enviable scientific level. Works in the field of cariology and cytotaxonomy of freshwater fish also have a pioneering character. Studying endemic fish species from the point of view of carilogy, Prof. Berberović, together with his associates, collected a number of important data for new world science. Through his work he made an important contribution to the affirmation of a complex approach to the problems of biosystematics of fish and biosystems of the living world in general. In this area, he achieved remarkable international cooperation. The scientific and wider cultural public very favorably assessed the work of academician Berberović in the field of history and philosophy of natural sciences. Book of his essays Nauka i svijet received a prestigious award from the Soros Foundation in 1996.
Academician Berberović was the first president of the Association of Genetics of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1979-1990), Vice President (1979-1980) and President of the Union of Genetic Societies of Yugoslavia (1980-1982). He presided over the Second Congress of Yugoslav Genetics (Vrnjačka Banja, 1981), as well as many other scientific meetings.

He was the University of Sarajevo Rector (1985-1988).

As the correspondent member of ANUBiH, he was elected in 1978, and for the regular one in 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 as an active member of Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea (2007). He is Honorary Doctor of Grand Valley State University (USA, 1989) and Honorary Member of PEN Center Sarajevo. Academician Berberović holds numerous high awards for scientific, professional and social work.

The date and time of the funeral and commemorative session will be subsequently announced.

Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina would like to extend deepest condolences to family, friends and associates of Academician Ljubomir Berberović.

Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina