In,. J. Hear Mass Trans/er.
Vol. 29, No. 12, pp. i-iii, 1986
Pergamon Journals Ltd. Printed in Great Britain.

ProfessorZoran Zaric-In

The

The

ICHMTMemoriam

Academician

constitution

draftsman

ON 15 DECEMBER
1985, the international
heat-transfer
community lost one of its leading scientific and public
figures, Professor Zoran Zaric of the University ofBelgrade, Yugoslavia.
He was, and had been fornearly 20 years, the Secretary-Generalof the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer;
butZoran Zaric was so much more than a laboratoryand committee-manthat the Editors of this journal
have encouraged me to overstep, when writing abouthim, the conventionsof the formal obituary notice.
All who knew Zoran will understandtheir reasons ;for his personality commanded
affection as strongly
as his achievements elicited respect.
I first met Zoran in 1966 when, attending a con-The

international
sportsmanference in Belgrade, I was approached by three, to me,
unknown Yugoslavs. They were Naim Afgan, PredragAnastasievic, and Zoran Zaric, all of the Boris Kidric
Institute for Nuclear Energy; and they were seeking
support for their proposal
to establish
an international heat-transferorganization,bringing together
scientists from both sides of the ‘continental divide’
between eastern and western blocs, which Yugoslavia
somewhat uneasily straddled.
As it happened, this was the second time that I had
heard of such an idea; for Professor Aleksei Vasilievich Luikov, of Minsk, was already promoting international co-operationin heat transfer;and, at theICHMT Editors’ meeting in Constanz, which his car-ii

Professor Zoran Zaric-In

disc problems had prevented him from attending, I
had been charged by him with presenting his proposal
to our colleagues.
As a consequenceof my double involvement,I
played some part in effecting a confluence between thetwo streams of initiative, and in determining,
as itturned out, that the International
Centre put its roots
down on the Adriatic shore.
In those days, before the tourist industry had established itself in Yugoslavia, the Boris Kidric Institutepossessed its own sea-shore leisure centre, at Herceg
Novi ; and it was there, in the following year, that thefirst internationalseminar was held. The centre had ameeting hall, an outside dining area shaded by interwoven vines, and just enough accommodation
for thehundred scientists (with their fortunate
families insome cases) who foregathered there. Professor Luikov
had this time been allowed by his physicians to makethe journey. Zoran Zaric, who spoke Russian as
fluently as he did English, moved easily between theeastern and western groups, contributing
to the senseand reality of harmony and preparing the way for thefoundation of the InternationalCentre.
My friendship with Zoran Zaric began already during the first meeting at Belgrade, cemented by conversations at Turkish-style restaurants in the old city,and helped by the presence of his first wife, Mila, andof mine, Eda. It was our first exposure to middleEuropean intellectual society ; and we could not havefound better representatives: they were urbane, wellread, polyglot, sophisticatedwithout being cynical,
and conscious of belonging to an international culture
to which national and political divisions were troublesome irrelevances.
The friendship was further consolidated at the 1967
Herceg Novi meeting, where, incidentally,
I firstlearned of Zoran’s distinctive personal contributions
to knowledge of the turbulent boundary layer. His
approach was an exceptional one, whereas mine wastheoretical,
so I did not for a long time appreciate
what he was doing. Years later, we both recognized
how essentiallycompatible,
and in need of one
another, his and my ideas had become. Our last enterprise indeed was the establishmentof a joint program
between the Serbian Academy and the Royal Society
to mine this vein of research together.
Matters were carried forward in 1968. It was theyear in which the International
Centre was to befounded; and Zoran and Mila had invited Eda andmyself to holiday with them in Budva before the seminar. Together, on the beach and at cafe tables, Zoranand I prepared the first draft of the constitution, whichthe ‘founding fathers’ of the Centre subsequently
adopted. By good fortune, I have found a photographrecording our labours, and reproduce it here so that
others can appreciate
somethingof Zoran’s lighthearted but successful approach to arduous work.
Not all our meetings were concerned with the International Centre. We were among those who, also in1968, travelled from a conference at Professor Lui-Memoriam

kov’s institute in Minsk to a seminar at Professor
Kutateladze’sin Novosibirsk.
It was a hilarious andheart-warming
social experience, as well as a rewarding scientific one. The boating photographof Professor Zaric (the power plant), and Professor Aleksander (Sasha) Ivanovich Leontiev (the navigator),records one of the quieter moments.
The 1968 Meeting at Herceg Novi was clouded byan event which took place just prior to its start, namely
the Soviet incursion into Czechoslovakia; and feelingsof apprehension,
guilt, indignationand exultationvariously affected, and tended to divide, a group that
until then had been singlcmindedly,
and doubtlessnaively, imbued with international
bonhomie.
The Yugoslavs were in an especially difficult position . . politically, culturally, personally ; and also as
prime movers in the new cooperative venture which
ICHMT represented.
That the Centre did not thendisintegrate is due to their assiduous preservation
ofcontacts with all parties, their avoidance of extreme
positions in discussion, their maintenanceof a calmand equable demeanour,and their steady determination to continue along the agreed path. Zoran
Zaric as Secretary-Generaland Naim Afgan as Scientific Secretary set the tone; and others followed theirexample. Their avoidance of dramatic moves then wasas crucial as their strong initiatives had been when theCentre was no more than a dream.
As Secretary-Generalof the Centre it fell to Zoran
Zaric to negotiate the agreements which were established with UNESCO headquarters
in Paris. Having
obtained his Ph.D. there in 1964, he was fluent inFrench also. His charm and patience, and the reasonableness of the ICHMT’s
proposals,would haveensured success with UNESCO
anyway ; but his‘French
connection’undoubtedly
helped, and it
exemplifies his knack of providing something extragood manners as well as good sense, pleasure as wellas business.
When the Boris Kidric Institute finally relinquishedits leisure centre, the ICHMT moved its annual seminars to Trogir, in the vicinity of Split. Here, too,Professor Zaric’s contributions
exceeded the merely
scientific and organizational.
I recall boat trips atnight to islands where Zoran’s numerous friends had
summer houses; and it was he who arranged for themarriage, conducted by the Mayor of Trogir in theancient and picturesqueTown Hall, of one of thefounding Editors of this journal. Alas, I could find nophotographof that memorable event.
Although his distinctive scientific specialty was turbulence measurement,
Professor Zaric was responsive
to direct industrial needs. Several of his publications
therefore
concernthermalproductionof naturalwaters, which in the 1960s much concerned the wouldbe operators of electricity-generating
plants. Later, heturned his attentions to the design of natural-draughtcooling towers, on which subject he and I again foundopportunities
for collaboration.
What was engaging
about him was his willingness to learn new skills, hisProfessor Zoran Zaric-In
enthusiasm for novelties of technique, and his readiness to undertake such low-level tasks as computerinput preparations
when they were needed.
Zoran was justifiably proud of having been elected
as a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences. He
knew that many worthy persons in his country failed
to achieve that honour, and that, had his canditatureby ill-chance not been successful, his achievements
would not have been thereby diminished ; nevertheless, that he had been chosen made him feel better
about himself and about the society in which he lived.
He knew before that he had worked hard and well;
now he was pleased that others recognized it too.
In 1984, Sir Owen Saunders, one of the foundersof this journal, attained his 80th birthday. Robert
Maxwell, our publisher, hosted a celebrity dinner;and Zoran Zaric was one of the chief guests, giving
special pleasure by conveying the greetings of theSerbian Academy to Sir Owen, who many years before
had been elected a foreign member of that learned
body. Once again. Zoran was the one who provided
somethingextra: others had come to honour theGrand Old Man of heat transfer; but Zoran’s connections carried an additional aura.
Like most men of a caring disposition, Zoran Zaric
was acquainted with personal sadness. There were nochildren in his first marriage, which was terminatedby his wife’s tragic death. Though distraught
for aMemoriam

111time, he married again; and this time was fortunate
indeed to become the father of a fine boy and girl. Forthem it is his death that ‘is the tragedy, especiallybecause Zoran’s own past troubles helped him to give
quiet comfort to others in need of it. Though hard toconvey, this is one of the qualities which made Zoran
so much more of a friend than a colleague.
The three photographs
portray Zoran Zaric as theserious academician, as the organization man capableof combining
business with pleasure, and as theyoung-at-heartcompanion,
at ease with himself andwith others. I wish that they could also convey Zoran
the raconteur retailing the jokes collected in Georgia,U.S.A., or Georgia, U.S.S.R. ; or Zoran the family
friend, romping with the children whose favourite
uncle he was ; or Zoran the . .-butto portray a
personality as large as his needs skills and space which
I do not possess.
That he was nevertheless someone very special I canhowever prove thus: at the opening session of therecent International
Heat Transfer Conference at San
Francisco, there was not one speaker who failed tomention Zoran’s all-too-final absence. He has left agap in the heat and transfer community that no-one
will ever quite fill.
D. B. SPALDINC
Imperial College, London