Michael I. Pupin

Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin
Pupin around 1890
Born	(1858-10-09)9 October 1858 village of Idvor in Banat, Military Frontier, Austrian Empire (now in Serbia)
Died	12 March 1935(1935-03-12) (aged 76) New York City, New York, USA
Citizenship	Serbian, American
Nationality	Serbian
Fields	Physics, Invention
Alma mater	Columbia College
Doctoral students	Robert Andrews Millikan, Edwin Howard Armstrong
Known for	Long-distance telephone communication
Notable awards	Elliott Cresson Medal (1905) IEEE Medal of Honor (1924) Edison Medal(1920) Pulitzer Prize (1924) John Fritz Medal (1932)
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Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, Ph.D., LL.D. (Serbian Cyrillic: Михајло Идворски Пупин, pronounced [miˈxǎjlo ˈîdʋoɾski ˈpǔpin]; 9 October 1858 – 12 March 1935), also known as Michael I. Pupin was a Serbian American physicist and physical chemist. Pupin is best known for his numerous patents, including a means of greatly extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils (of wire) at predetermined intervals along the transmitting wire (known as "pupinization"). Pupin was a founding member of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) on 3 March 1915, which later became NASA.

Mihajlo Pupin was born on 9 October (27 September, OS) 1858 in the village of Idvor (in the modern-day municipality of Kovačica, Serbia) in Banat, in the Military Frontier in the Austrian Empire. He always remembered the words of his mother and cited her in his autobiography, From Immigrant to Inventor (1925):

Pupin went to elementary school in his birthplace, to Serbian Orthodox school, and later to German elementary school in Perlez. He enrolled in high school in Pančevo, and later in the Real Gymnasium. He was one of the best students there; a local archpriest saw his enormous potential and talent, and influenced the authorities to give Pupin a scholarship.