Introduction

I would like to talk about a person who has shaped so many aspects of the
modern world and was considered one of the pioneering and most prominent
scientists of the 20th century, and yet, is virtually unknown today. However,
before I embark on actually telling you who this person is or what his
contributions are I would like to reflect on one old Serbian word. That word is
“Zvezdobroj”.

Zvezdobroj or zvezdobrojac when translated literally means “star counter” or

“one who counts stars”. The term was used for children who were especially
gifted or prodigious. The idea behind it was that such children could look into
the starry skies and observe the answers to the most complex and puzzling
questions of the universe. (This presumably comes from psalm 147:4 – which
says “he counts the stars and calls them all by name.”) The person I will be
talking about today was considered a star counter; and this person is Michael
Pupin.

(Structure) I want to first present you with a background of where he came

from and exactly why this is important. So in the first part of this presentation
we will take a look at how he came to America and I will try to present his
educational career both as a student and as a professor.

In the second part of the presentation, we shall be looking at some of his main
contributions to the field of science.

And finally in the third part we shall delve into some of his political
engagement and conclude with the crowning jewel of his career – his
autobiography.

Part 1:

I would like to begin by saying where Pupin comes from. He comes from a
small village in Serbia called Idvor. Now, Idvor is so small that Pupin himself
wrote in his autobiography that you couldn’t find it on any map. (which is no
longer true – show a map of it). But for such a small place, it left a big impact
on Pupin. So much so that he legally changed his name to Michael IDVORSKY
Pupin – as a way to always carry his village and his roots with him wherever he
went and never to forget it.
When I landed at Castle Garden, forty-eight years ago, I had only five cents in my pocket.
Had I brought five hundred dollars, instead of five cents, my immediate career in the new,
and to me perfectly strange, land would have been the same. A young immigrant such as I
was then does not begin his career until he has spent all the money which he has brought
with him. I brought five cents, and immediately spent it upon a piece of prune pie, which
turned out to be a bogus prune pie. It contained nothing but pits of prunes. If I had brought
five hundred dollars, it would have taken me a little longer to spend it, mostly upon bogus
things, but the struggle which awaited me would have been the same in each case. It is no
handicap to a boy immigrant to land here penniless; it is not a handicap to any boy to be
penniless when he strikes out for an independent career, provided that he has the stamina to
stand the hardships that may be in store for him.[7]

He worked hard, doing menial jobs to earn money and learn the language.  he
qualified for entrance to Columbia College in 1879 by passing the entrance exam with
high honors. He graduated from Columbia with honors in 1883. He held the John
Tyndall fellowship at the university and was president of his class. He became a U.S.
citizen the day before graduation. Pupin then spent two years at Cambridge University
and continued his education in 1885 at the University of Berlin, studying and conducting
research in experimental physics under Hermann Von Helmholtz. He obtained his Ph.D.
in Berlin in 1889.

He would return to Columbia to teach mathematics there –

He returned to Columbia and became Instructor of Mathematical Physics and played a key
role in founding the Columbia Department of Electrical Engineering.

. Shortly after his death, the Columbia University Trustees named the university's new
physics laboratory building "Pupin Laboratories" in his honor.

Pupin was celebrated as a professor – he even won professor of the year. And two of his
students went on to subsequently win nobel prizes in physicis and chemistry (the former
being the second american ever to win the nobel prize)

Part 2:

In the end recap the main points about him and conclude with his quote.
“Neither Tesla nor I would have done anything with our lives had we not, as
kids, gazed at the eternal expanse and the starry skies above us” - Pupin

the sonar technology was a request by president woodrow wilson

I think there is much to be taken from the story of Pupin’s life. Which is why I
think it’s such a shame that his story has been all but forgotten.

Psalm 147:4 – “He counts the stars and calls them all by name.”
“vi ste svet” Pupin