Ivan Mestrovic’s Bronze of Michael Pupin at Columbia University

ABSTRACT

Michael Idvorsky Pupin (1858–1935) is best known for his pioneering work in electrical engineering and for his contributions to the fields of telephony and telegraphy. Less well known is his career as an academic and scientist at Columbia. This article centers on the history of the bronze bust of Pupin created by the Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic (1883–1962) as a personal gift to the scientist, and which now stands in the hallway of Pupin Hall, Pupin’s renamed laboratory, at Columbia. Pupin, who had been born in poverty in what is now Serbia, was actively involved in the Pan Slavic movement to create Yugoslavia after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I (WWI) as was Mestrovic.

KEYWORDS:

• Michael Idvorsky Pupin
• Ivan Mestrovic
• Columbia University
• Pupin hall

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

^1. Less well known is his career as an academic and scientist at Columbia. See Michael Idvorsky Pupin, FactMonster, https://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/physics/physics-bios/pupin-michael-idvorsky (accessed July 10, 2021).

^2. Michael I. Pupin, From Immigrant to Inventor (Forgotten Books, 2019). Internet resource.

^3. For more details, see Božidar Gagro, Nenad Gattin, and Vladimir Ivir, Ivan Meštrović (Zagreb: Globus, 1987). Print.

^4. Anthony Lauck, “Ivan Mestrovic 1883–1962,” Art Journal 21, no. 3 (March 1962),175–76, https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.1962.10794236.

^5. RTS (Radio televizija Srbije = Radio Television of Serbia, “Pupin Cvijiću o Meštroviću,” https://www.rts.rs/page/magazine/sr/story/2523/nauka/3399630/pupin-cvijicu-o-mestrovicu.html.