ALBIN BELAR – FORGOTTEN SLOVENIAN NATURAL SCIENTIST

Abstract

The book on Dr. Albin Belar, the pioneer of Slovenian seismology and nature protection, written by Renato Vidrih and Jože Mihelič, reveals the life and work of this prominent natural scientist who was unfairly disregarded for many years. In 1897, two years after the great Ljubljana earthquake, he funded the first seismological station in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. During the next years he brought the seismological science to a very high level. He constructed several seismographs, built a radio receiver for accurate time signal and published a monthly seismological journal. He was the initiator of the Triglav National Park, for he gave proposal for the conservation of the Triglav Lakes Valley to the Provincial Administration of Carniola already in 1903.