Smilja Mučibabić facts for kids

Smilja Mučibabić (born October 14, 1912 – died August 12, 2006) was a very important biologist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was one of the most famous biologists in the former Yugoslavia during the 20th century. Smilja was born in Mostar and passed away in Sarajevo.

She achieved many amazing things, including:

• Becoming the first person from Bosnia and Herzegovina to earn a PhD in biology from Cambridge University in 1953.
• Starting and leading the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo in 1953.
• Helping to create the Faculty of Science at the University of Sarajevo in 1954.
• Serving as the first dean (head) of the Faculty of Science in Sarajevo in 1960.
• Founding and leading the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Science in Sarajevo for many years, starting in 1960.
• Helping to start and lead several important science groups and their magazines in Bosnia and Herzegovina and former Yugoslavia.

Who Was Smilja Mučibabić?

Smilja Mučibabić was born in Mostar on September 14, 1912. She completed her elementary and high school education there. From 1930 to 1934, she studied biology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. At that time, Mostar was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Early Career and World War II

Before World War II, Smilja worked as a professor in Veliko Gradište and later in Sremski Karlovci. During the war, she was arrested because she was part of a group that supported Communism. She was held in a German camp near Zagreb and then in a prison in Zagreb until the war ended in 1945.

After the war, Smilja Mučibabić returned to Krapina. She worked in a high school there until the end of the 1945/1946 school year. She then moved to the Teacher School in Mostar. The next year, because she was so skilled, she became the director of this high school. Her excellent leadership and dedication to improving teaching were recognized with many awards.

Building Biology Education in Sarajevo

In the autumn of 1949, Smilja became a professor at the Higher Pedagogical School in Sarajevo. She worked there until the Department of Biology was created at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo in 1954. She was then sent to the Zoological Institute in Belgrade. For two years, she worked hard to prepare for the opening of the new biology department in Sarajevo.

She received a scholarship from the British Council to study at the University of Cambridge. For two years, she focused on her PhD research in protozoological ecology. Protozoology is the study of tiny, single-celled organisms called protozoa. Ecology is about how living things interact with their environment. Smilja Mučibabić was given special permission to defend her PhD thesis after only two years, which was very unusual.

Related Pages

• University of Sarajevo