Slavic accomplishments and Slavic contributions to civilization

[Norbert]

There are many. Let's organize them into one big list.

[Norbert]

I really thought this thread would receive more attention...

[TheBorrebyViking]

Nicolaus Copernicus

[Stars Down To Earth]

Erm...let's see...classical music (Tchaikovsky and so on), literature (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov), weapons tech (AK-47s, inter-continental nukes), and sending up the first space satellite.

Tesla also comes to mind among Slavic contributors, although he's usually overshadowed by Edison.

I really thought this thread would receive more attention...

You're doing it wrong, Norbert. If you want this thread to have attention, you need to compare Slavs with someone else. Competition is sort of the reason why people bother with these threads.

[Osweo]

For God's Sake, Norbert, you have to make some effort, you know!

Of course, simply being so many as they are, across such a vast expanse of territory, of such variety of climates and ecology, is astounding enough.

When you consider the opposition they met, from the Germans, Tatars, Turks, Magyars, and so on, all the more so!

And yeah... they went in space and invented some stuff too.

[Albion]

This thread is a good idea, I'll be a reader instead of a writer here I think.

[morski]

The Constitution of May 3, 1791 (Polish: Konstytucja Trzeciego Maja; Lithuanian: Gegužės trečiosios konstitucija) was adopted as a "Government Act" (Polish: Ustawa rządowa) on that date by the Sejm (parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Historian Norman Davies calls it "the first constitution of its type in Europe"; other scholars also refer to it as the world's second oldest constitution.[1][2][3][4][a] It was in effect for only a year, until the Russo-Polish War of 1792.

The May 3rd Constitution was designed to redress long-standing political defects of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its traditional system of "Golden Liberty" conveying disproportionate rights and privileges to the nobility. The Constitution introduced political equality between townspeople and nobility (szlachta) and placed the peasants under the protection of the government, thus mitigating the worst abuses of serfdom. The Constitution abolished pernicious parliamentary institutions such as the liberum veto, which at one time had put the sejm at the mercy of any deputy who might choose, or be bribed by an interest or foreign power, to undo legislation passed by that sejm. The Constitution sought to supplant the existing anarchy fostered by some of the country's magnates with a more democratic constitutional monarchy.

The adoption of the May 3rd Constitution provoked the active hostility of the Commonwealth's neighbors. In the War in Defense of the Constitution, the Commonwealth lost its Prussian ally, Frederick William II, when the Commonwealth failed to live up to territorial agreements made in their treaty and also failed to consult Prussia before agreeing on the constitution. It was then defeated by Catherine the Great's Imperial Russia allied with the Targowica Confederation, a coalition of Polish magnates and landless nobility who opposed reforms that might weaken their influence. Despite the Commonwealth's defeat and the consequent Second Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the May 3 Constitution influenced later democratic movements. It remained, after the demise of the Polish Republic in 1795, over the next 123 years of Polish partitions, a beacon in the struggle to restore Polish sovereignty. In the words of two of its co-authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, it was "the last will and testament of the expiring Country."[5][b]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_...of_May_3,_1791

[Unurautare]

Nicolaus Copernicus

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

Read:

Copernic provenea dintr-o familie de comercianți și înalți funcționari administrativi de etnie germană.

[Veneda]

Maria Sklodowska-Curie

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - pioneered radioactivity research. She was the first two-time Nobel laureate and the only person to win the award in two different sciences (Linus Pauling won Chemistry and Peace). She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Maria Sklodowska-Curie was the first female professor at the Sorbonne.

Notable Awards:
Nobel Prize in Physics (1903) [together with Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie]
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)



Dr. Maria Sklodowska-Curie is known to the world as the scientist who discovered radioactive metals i.e. Radium & Polonium.

She was a Polish physicist and chemist who lived between 1867-1934. Together with her husband, Pierre, she discovered two new elements (radium and polonium, two radioactive elements that they extracted chemically from pitchblende ore) and studied the x-rays they emitted. She found that the harmful properties of x-rays were able to kill tumors. By the end of World War I, Maria Sklodowska-Curie was probably the most famous woman in the world. She had made a conscious decision, however, not to patent methods of processing radium or its medical applications.

As a child, Marie Curie amazed people with her great memory. She learned to read when she was only four years old. Her father was a professor of science and the instruments that he kept in a glass case fascinated Marie. She dreamed of becoming a scientist, but that would not be easy. Her family became very poor, and at the age of 18, Marie became a governess. She helped pay for her sister to study in Paris. Later, her sister helped Marie with her education. In 1891, Marie attended the Sorbonne University in Paris where she met and married Pierre Curie, a well-known physicist.

After the sudden accidental death of Pierre Curie, Marie Curie managed to raise her two small daughters (Irène, who was herself awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, and Eve who became an accomplished author) and continue an active career in experimental radioactivity measurements.

Marie Curie contributed greatly to our understanding of radioactivity and the effects of x-rays. She died of leukemia, caused by her repeated exposure to radioactive material.

Albert Einstein once said of her:

"Marie Curie is, of all celebrated beings, the one whom fame has not corrupted".

Source: Madame Curie by Irene Curie, DaCapo Press 1937
Marie and Pierre at work

http://atomistyka.pl/promien/photo/sklodowska027a.jpg

[hajduk]

Since I am bulgarian I will post for my country.
Asen Yordanov (1896–1967), the founder of aeronautical engineering in Bulgaria, worked as an aviator, engineer and inventor; he also contributed to the development of aviation in the United States. He played a significant role in U.S. aircraft development (mostly bomber and carrier-based aircraft) and took part in many other projects. Yordanov created the first Bulgarian airplane, the "Diplan Yordanov-1", in 1915.[28]
Another Bulgarian-American inventor and scientist, Peter Petroff, became best known for his work in NASA. Petroff also invented the first digital watch (1970).[29]
Captain Simeon Petrov of the Bulgarian Air Force invented the world's first purpose-built air-to-surface bomb, which included innovations such as an aerodynamically stabilizing x-tail and an impact detonator. To this day the majority of aircraft bombs in the world follow Petrov's 1912 design. The Bulgarian Air Force deployed the original prototype, thus becoming the first military force in the world to conduct tactical airplane bombing sorties during a full-scale war (in 1912).[30]
Ivan Stranski (1897–1979) developed the molecular-kinetic theory of crystal formation and crystal growth. The results of his work on crystal structure and behaviour have had wide application in the areas of physical chemistry, metallurgy and mining. Georgi Nadjakov was among Bulgaria's top physicists, and became known for his experiments on the photoelectric effect and most notably, the discovery of photoelectrets. Nadjakov's discoveries are now widely employed in photocopier machines.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgaria has started to actively develop its own scientific and technological basis. The Liberation of the country in 1878 ended a nearly 500-year period of Ottoman rule, under which Bulgarian science was virtually nonexistent. Despite the political instability in the period between World wars, scientific research expanded with a steady pace until the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s, it came to an almost complete halt, but since the early 2000s Bulgarian science is slowly regaining its growth. Bulgaria has strong traditions in mathematics, computer sciences, aeronautics, aerospace research and medicine.

As of 2009, 47 universities operate within Bulgaria's small territory, fostering its scientific and technological know-how. The country has a strong tradition in mathematics, astronomy, physics, nuclear technology and sciences-oriented education, and has significant experience in medical and pharmaceutical research.

Bulgaria, once known as the Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc,[12] has started to regain its position as a leading centre of high-technology research and development, particularly in information-technology (IT) and nanotechnology research, development, production and distribution. Bulgaria became one of the first European countries to develop serial production of personal computers (Pravetz series 8) in the beginning of the 1980s. According to the Brainbench Global IT IQ report, Bulgaria ranks first in Europe in terms of IT-certified specialists per capita[13] and 8th in the world in total ICT specialists, out-performing countries with far larger populations.[2]

Bulgaria is the 6th country in the world to send a man in space: Georgi Ivanov flew on Soyuz 33 in 1979. In 1988 Aleksandar Aleksandrov became the first Bulgarian to conduct experiments on a space station.[24] Bulgaria also supplied many scientific and research instruments for the Soviet space program. Currently the country participates in India's lunar exploration mission, Chandrayaan-1. In 1981 Bulgaria designed and constructed its first artificial satellite: Bulgaria 1300, which a Soviet Vostok-2M rocket inserted into polar orbit.

As of 2007 CERN employed more than 90 Bulgarian scientists, and about 30 of them will actively participate in the Large Hadron Collider experiments.[31]