{"id":3507,"date":"2024-11-01T01:45:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T01:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/?page_id=3507"},"modified":"2024-11-01T01:45:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T01:45:56","slug":"serbs-in-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/serbs-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbs in America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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IN THE SPIRIT OF NIKOLA TESLA \u2013 SERBS IN AMERICA       <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Last year during the president\u2019s speech to students in Washington D.C. about America, Nikola Tesla was mentioned  as having contributed a great deal to his adopted country. Thereby,  officially recognizing  the great American scientist of Serbian origin Nikola Tesla, for his many contribution towards the industrial and scientific development and success of  the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbian people from the Balkans have been immigrating to  America for over two hundred years. Sailors, shipbuilders and fishermen from the Adriatic Coast,Eastern Orthodox  Serbian missionaries and adventurers with a variety of skills, and common laborers were among the first to migrate to the USA. The first officialy registered Serb to enter America was \u0110or\u0111e Ribar \u0160agi\u0107, a young merchant, who arrived as a stowaway to Philadelphia in 1815. \u0160agi\u0107, who took an American name George Fisher, was a fighter for the independence of  New Mexico and Texas,became a director of customs and a judge, founder of a Serbian society and Masonic lodges, writer of one of the best American adventurous novels. As a historical person, Mr George Fisher is included in  a museum display in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, and as a result of Fisher\u2019s personal and professional relationship with Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, he was selected as a delegate to assist in the laying of the corner stone of the Washington National Monument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the beginning of the 19th century Serbian immigrants entered the southern Gulf States of\u2013 Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama at which time many were called upon to fight for the Confederacy.. They were also found entering  California, as it was a haven for agriculture, fishing and mining for gold.Later they continued to the copper and coal mining states Nevada, Utah, Montana, Arizona, Pennsylvania, etc.. and then also a gold mine, so Serbian pioneers conquered Western cities Los Angeles and San Francisco. Slightly they moved towards the continental part  \u2013 to Nevada, Utah, Montana, Arizona and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the early settlers were also from the same region as that of Nikola Tesla, and were conscripted to serve in the US Army during WWI of which one in particular, Col.Louis Cekula was the awarded two Medals of Honor for bravery   serving both in the European and Pacific theaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Nikola Tesla came to New York City in 1902 he immediately began concentrating on his goals and objectives to fullfill his American Dream by introducing his many inventions and patents that would have a positive impact on his adopted country and the world to include alternating current, the radio, wireless communications, remote control technology, etc.. to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Nikola Tesla became an American idol and world known scientist. Today, he and his many inventions have been mentioned  on Google 15 million times.  The Museum of  Nikola Tesla in Belgrade receives 300.000 emails every year, from fans and scientist alike.Thus in Belgrade it is  often said with pride that Serbs in America are \u2013 Tesla\u2019s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For two and a half  centuries Serbs have managed to become a part of US history. The early history was written by ship stowaway \u0110or\u0111e \u0160agi\u0107, and famed  scientists Mihailo Pupin and Nikola Tesla. Both of them have established endowments in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty-three years have passed since man has landed on the Moon. Names of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins were written in golden letters in the history of humankind. However, not much is known about eight experts of Serbian origin who were instrumental in the design, development  construction and launch of  the many Apollo space capsules.. Milojko Mike Vu\u010deli\u0107 was a project manager, and one of the directors of  Apollo program from 1966 to 1978, and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Johnson for his role as scientific  advisor during the rescue of the Apollo 13 from disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Mike Vucelic as Apollo Program Manager, the following American Serbs were also members of the team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Vuich, NASA\/Rockwell International Project\/Program Coordinator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danilo Bojic, Systems Engineer, Designer of Apollo Emergency Escape System<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavoljub Vujic, Avionics Systems Engineer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Gaich, Electronics Engineer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milosh Subatovich, Structural Engineer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Duich, Project Engineer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other prominent  American-Serbs in the Aviation and Aerospace Industry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nickolas Chabraja, President\/CEO General Dynamics (retired)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phebe Novakovich, President\/CEO General Dynamics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welko Gasich, Sr, Vice President, Northrop Grumman, Chief Aero Engineer for the T-38, F-5, F-20 and B-2 Bomber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dragisha (Gish) Jovanovich, President McCullough Aviation Designed the first Gyrocopter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Begovich, President, Litton Industries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Vucerovich, V. President, Lockheed\/Martin Information Technologies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vern Pupich, Test Engineer, Chief Test Pilot of DC-3 Douglas Aircraft<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Sabovich, President, Mojave Airport, Established Largest Flight Test Facility<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Jasmina Vujic, Prof. of Nuclear Physics, Univ. of Calif<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Michael Pravica, Prof .of Physics Univ of Nevada<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Vojin Jaksomovich, Prof of Nuclear Physics (retired)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are an estimated 5000 leading professors, assistants, scientists and researchers of Serbian origin in the US vowing to become the next Nikola Tesla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lt. General Edward Radkovich USAF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maj. General Rudy Ostovich Army Aviation Commander<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maj. General George Karamarkovich, US Marine Aviation Commander<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maj. General Mele Vojvodich, USAF, SR 71 Blackbird Test Pilot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maj. General Mike Pavich, USAF Wing Commander<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Maj. General Gary Batinich, USAF Wing Commander<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brig. General Karen Djurich, Information Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medal of Honors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Capt. Lance Sijan, USAF Viet Nam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Col. Mitchel (Vujnovich) Page US Marine Corp WWII<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Sgt\/ Alex Mandich US Army WWII<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Col. Louis Cukela , Two Medals of Honor, WWII<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spirit of Nikola Tesla can be found in the future generations of Serbian immigrants and American  Serbs who consider him their personal scientific and humanitarian visionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We thank Nikola Tesla for his never ending legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IN THE SPIRIT OF NIKOLA TESLA \u2013 SERBS IN AMERICA        Last year during the president\u2019s speech to students in Washington D.C. about America, Nikola Tesla was mentioned  as having contributed a great deal to his adopted country. Thereby,  officially recognizing  the great American scientist of Serbian origin Nikola Tesla, for his many contribution towards the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3507","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"campaignId":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3508,"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3507\/revisions\/3508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teslasciencefoundation.org\/new_TSF\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}