ER SRBI JA VEST I / AIR SERBIA NEWS 58 | Njujork » New York F I RST V I CTORY GA I NED I N NEW YOR K In the winter of 1874, Mihajlo Pupin landed at Castle Garden, where Franklin and Lincoln opened the door to America for him A GREAT SCIENTIST CONQUERS AMERICA AIRSERBIA ISAWAITEDBY THE INCREASE OF its fleet with the additionof anAirbusA330-200 wide-body aircraft thisOctober.The new plane will be decorated with the image of Mihajlo Pupin, one of the greatest Serbian scientists of all time, and it will fly to Air Serbia’s long haul destinations, as well as to important European destinations where there is a greater demand. Air Serbia is continuing to expand its operations on the U.S. market and is set to establish direct flights between Belgrade and Chicago as of spring 2023. After a break of 32 years, the Serbian capital will once again be linked directly to this American city that’s home to approximately 350,000 residents who hail fromSerbia and the surrounding Balkan countries. Given that the fleet’s new addition will bear the name and image of Mihajlo Pupin, and that it will probably mostly fly to the United States, here we recall this great scientist who connected Serbia and the U.S. in a spectacular way... Amind hungry for knowledge “Fifty-eight years ago, in the late winter of 1874, a young Serb landed at Castle Garden. He was without land or property, without friends or influence, and without knowledge of the language of this country. Many would say that he had nothing, but that wouldmean failing to recognise the things that he had. He had good health, character, ambition, amind eager to find knowledge and use it, as well as high ideals.” It was with these words that Dr Bancroft Geraldi began his honorary speech when one of the fathers of telecommunications, famous scientist and Columbia University professor Mihajlo Pupin, received the John Fritz Medal. That was back on 27th January 1932. Pupin said of himself that he was a Serb by birth and an American by knowledge. The life journey that led him from Idvor to the largest scientific awards and honours is as exciting as his scientific heritage. Born in this small Banat village on 9th October 1854, he died in New York on 12th March 1935. This amazing story began on the last page of an illustrated newspaper with an advertisement of steamship company Hamburg-America, which offered cheap, basic transportation to New York for a price of twenty-eight florins. “I immediately decided to try my luck in the land of Franklin and Lincoln... I sold books, my watch, clothing, then a yellow leather and black fur hat to get the sumof money needed. I set off on the journey with a single suit onmy back, a couple of shirts and a Turkish red fez hat that nobody had wanted to buy. And why would aman trouble his head around warmclothing when going to New York? Isn’t New York a lot further south than Pančevo, and wouldn’t one imagine that America is a warmer country when aman recalls those numerous pictures of naked FOTO: „MIRIAM AND IRA D. WALLACH DIVISION OF ART, PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS/NEWYORK PUBLIC LIBRARY / SCIENCEPHOTO / PROFIMEDIA“
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