Konstantin Momirovic (1932-2004)

Photo 1. Professor Konstantin Momirovic Ph.D.

Professor Konstantin Momirovic was a leader of the "Zagreb Statistics School". The term was coined in 1986 by the famous statistician Henry F. Kaiser of the University of Berkeley, USA, while working with Momirovic and his team as a Fulbright Fellow at the University Computing Centre - SRCE.

Professor Konstantin Momirovic was born on the 13^th of January 1932 in Tetovo (Macedonia) as a son of Nikola and Aleksandra (GaliZ) Momirovic. Until 1939, he lived in Tetovo, from 1939 to 1942 in Berane (Ivangrad, Montenegro), from 1942 to 1949 in Belgrade, from 1950 to 1990 in Zagreb. He was married to Neda OstoiY from February 1956 (divorced 1970) and they had 1 child, Aleksandar Momirovic; he married again with Ankica Hošek on 4th of October 1975. From 1991 to 2004, he lived in Belgrade. He passed away, suddenly on 28th of March 2004. He completed his primary and secondary schooling in Belgrade and took his A-levels from the 1st Belgrade Grammar School in 1950. In the same year, he enrolled in the singleprogram study of psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. He graduated in February 1955, his graduation thesis being entitled, "Contribution to the Research of Isolated Communities". During and after the study of psychology, he also studied medicine, philosophy and history of art. Having defended the dissertation, "The Factor Structure of Certain Neurotic Symptoms", he earned his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. His mentor was Zoran Bujas, a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1959/60, he completed the military training course for reserve officers in Bileca.

He was a successful athletic. He played basketball in the first junior teams of Crvena Zvezda and Partizan in Belgrade. Along with this, he was a member of the first student chess club Mladost in Zagreb. From 1952 to 1955 he was the judo champion of Zagreb and of Croatia and won many awards from the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo. In 1957, the Institute of Physical Education in Zagreb appointed him Judo Coach and, in 1969, he was promoted to the position of Senior Sports Coach. He was a member of the teams of Zagreb, Croatia and Yugoslavia. Between 1961 and 1968, he was both the captain and selector for the national judo team. Since 1982, he was also a member of the Expert Council in the Yugoslavian Judo Federation.

Photo 2. Professor Konstantin Momirovic Ph.D as Judo master (1968).

He got his first job in the Military Hospital in Zagreb where he held the position of the head of Applied Psychology Department. Between 1959 and 1966 he was working, first fulltime and later part-time, at the Research Institute for Children's and Youth's Developmental Problems where he led the group for experimental projects and statistics. At that time, this institution was run by Professor Anka Matic, a former student of Professor Vallon, the famous psychologist and hero of the French Resistance Movement.

In 1960, Dr. Momirovic became assistant lecturer at the Physical Education College in Zagreb. Three years later he was promoted to the position of a senior lecturer and after three more years, in 1966, to the position of associate professor. He was elected a full professor at the Faculty of Physical Education in 1971 and re-elected to the same position in 1982 (the course he taught was Kinesiological psychology) and again in 1983 (for the course Quantitative methods). Since 1966, he was head of the Program, and later of the Department for Kinesiological Psychology, working part time since September 1976. From 1978 through 1985, he was head of the Department for Kinesiological Informatics and Statistics. He held the dean's office at the Faculty of Kinesiology (then operating as the Physical Education College) from 1969 to 1971. Between 1973 and 1975 he was the assistant dean for academic affairs. The field of kinesiology, that is, human kinetics which is the science of human movement, prof. Momirovic made Kinesiology into a research field. Early on he coined the names: Kinesiometrics and Kinesiological Informatics and Statistics.

In the University Computing Centre –SRCE– Professor Momirovic worked (part time) since its foundation in 1971 until September 1976. During 1973 he was the President of the Council (management board) of the University Computing Centre. In 1976 he started working full time as the manager of the SRCE's scientific-research activities. He was General Manager of the University Computing Centre from July 1979 to July 1983. From 1978 to 1990, he was also President of the University Computing Centre's Scientific Council. From 1961 to 1966 he worked as part time assistant lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Since 1964 he was a part time lecturer at the Physical Education College in Ljubljana, first in the post-graduate program and later in the undergraduate program as well. From 1970 to 1972, he was doing this in the capacity of full professor. That institution re-elected him to the same position in 1977. The course he taught within the post-graduate program was Kinesiological methodology. At the Faculty of Kinesiology (then operating as the Physical Education College) in Zagreb, he taught Psychology and Judo in the under-graduate program, whereas in the post-graduate program he taught Principles of scientific work and quantitative methods in psychology, Applied kinesiology 1 (Kinesiometrics) and Applied kinesiology 2 (Theory of coaching). After the reform of higher education was completed, in the undergraduate program he taught Kinesiological psychology and Quantitative methods and in the post-graduate programs he taught Kinesiological anthropology and Quantitative methods in Kinesiology.

At the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, he taught an optional subject Psychology of sport in the undergraduate program, whereas in the post-graduate program he taught Implementation of electronic computers in psychological data analysis. Within the teaching program of the University Computing Centre (illustrated with selection of 4 education related documents), he taught the following courses: Non-numerical data analysis; Taxonomic analysis and pattern recognition; Multivariate analysis 1 (regression and canonical correlation analyses); Multivariate analysis 2 (analysis of variance and discriminant analysis); Multivariate analysis 3 (principal component and factor analyses); and SS: Statistical System (programming system for multivariate data analysis). In the post-graduate program at the Faculty of Medicine, from 1964 onward, he taught Psychology of sport and from 1983 the subject Software for biological data analysis too. As regards the course Methods of scientific-research work, he taught it in the post-graduate programs at the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation and the Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, both in Zagreb. He taught similar courses in post-graduate programs of physical education studies in Belgrade and Novi Sad too. In the years 1980 and 1989, in the capacity of visiting professor, he taught Pattern recognition and Specialized metalanguages at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of the State University in Moscow.

In 1990’s, he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Belgrade. He mentored Ph.D. students and served on commissions awarding doctoral degrees at the following institutions of higher education: University of Zagreb (Faculty of Physical Education, Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, School of Medicine, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, and Interinstitutional studies for the field of Information Sciences; University of Belgrade (Faculty of Physical Education, Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation); University of Ljubljana (Physical Education College). His first scientific papers were published in 1957. By the end of 1990, he had published 24 books or monographs and 262 papers in psychological, kinesiological, anthropological, criminological, medical, statistical and computer science journals and conference proceedings. He lectured at 40 international and more than 80 domestic conferences and symposia on statistics, information science, psychology, anthropology, criminology, medicine and kinesiology (physical education).

For his scientific work, he received the May Award from the Croatian SFK in 1963 and, in 1986, the Croatian Society of Psychologists prized him with the prestigious "Ramiro Bujas' Award". He is recipient of Genetic research reward Sovjet Assoc. for Genetics, 1986. Besides these, he earned numerous acknowledgments for his scientific accomplishments in the fields of information science, kinesiology and biological anthropology. Between February 1954 and June 1990, being a distinguished person and great expert, he was politically active and highly influential, primarily in the fields of his professional expertise. He held various functions in youth and student organizations. With regard to his engagement in sports organizations, he fulfilled the following functions: President of the chess club Partizan in Belgrade; President of the Judo club Mladost in Zagreb; President and Vice-President of the Judo Federation of Zagreb and of Judo Federation of Croatia; vice-president and member of the Executive Board of the Croatian SFK; member of the Executive Committee of Yugoslavian Judo Federation; President of the Refereeing Corps of the Yugoslavian Judo Federation; President of the Coaching Corps of the Yugoslavian Judo Federation; member of the Expert Commission of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee; President of the Yugoslavian Judo Federation. He was first President, and then Vice-President of the Republic Council for Information Technology of the Socialist Republic of Croatia; President of the Committee for the Development of Information Technology Activities of the University Assembly; president of the Committee for People's Defense and Civil Defense; member of the Arts-of-war Committee of the Research Council of the Armed Forces of SFR Yugoslavia; member of the Committee for Computer Science of the Research Council of the Armed Forces of SFR Yugoslavia; member of the Executive Council and the Zagreb University Board; member of the Research Council of SR Croatia; member of Scientific Planning Commission of Selfmanaged Interest Community (SIZ) VI; president of the Commission for Fostering and Coordination of Research in the Field of Education by the Educational Council of SR Croatia; member of the Committee for Physical Education of the Commission for Ideological Matters of the Central Committee of the Communist Union of Croatia; member of the Committee for Information by Parliamentary Executive Council of SR Croatia; president of the Commission for Computer Science, Scientific and Technological Information of the Committee for Science, Technology and Informatics by Parliamentary Executive Council of SR Croatia; member of the Educational Council of SR Croatia; member of the Commission for Education, Science and Culture by Federal Conference of SSRNJ; president of Scientific Programming Council of RSIZ 14; member of the Scientific and Educational Council of Zagreb University.

He was also member of the following associations: Croatian Society of Psychologists, Croatian Society of Sociologists, Croatian Society of Informaticians, Ergonomic Society of Croatia, Classification Section of the Yugoslav Statistical Society; Section for Computational Statistics of the Yugoslav Statistical Society; Yugoslav Anthropological Association; FEPSAC (European Association of Sports Psychologists); European Anthropological Society, Psychometrics Society; International Association of Classification; International Association of Computational Statistics. He was also member of editorial boards or editorial councils of the following scientific journals: Glasnik Antropološkog društva Jugoslavije (Herald of the Yugoslav Anthropological Association); Kineziologija (Kinesiology) and Collegium Antropologicum. From Momirovic's rich and outstanding carrier, we are highlighting two activities that were of special importance to 30^th years Anniversary of ITI Conference:

• His longtime contribution to the ITI Conference, and

• His longtime contribution to SRCE, the Conference organizer.

Professor Momirovic was involved in the Conference in many different roles, as a member of the Organizing and International Program Committees, an author and a reviewer, starting from the first symposium in 1974 (held under the name Computer at the University) until the 1990 Information Technology Interfaces or ITI Conference. He introduced the Conference topic Data Analysis and Statistics which has remained a permanent theme since the second Conference (1980).

He took all of the responsabilites and became the host of COMPSTAT’ 90 held in Dubrovnik, September 1990. From the second half of 1990’s, he completely withdrew from any social and sports associations and devoted himself entirely to scientific research and, to the extent he considered necessary, educational acivities. During the period between 1957 and 1995, a number of surveys and studies (with limited accessibility to scientific public) were written about morphological, motoric, cognitive and conative, micro- and macro-sociological characteristics, as well as about the instruments and procedures for their measuring and implementation in classification and selection. From 1998, he dedicatedly worked on the development of algorithms, coding and forming extensive collection of programs for multivariate data analysis, coherent macro commands realized in SPSS macro language and making an integral part of the macro-library of Institute for Criminological and Sociological Research (IKSI). At the end, his personal computer whose performances would today be considered as very modest (PC 486 at 150 MHz), contained almost eight hundred macro programs covering 21 topic areas of data analysis. Momirovic had very broad interests that included Statistics, and in particular, multivariate analysis and nonparametric analysis, psychometrics and tests, and psychology. He coupled these fields with knowledge of computer science.

Photo 3. Professor Konstantin Momirovic working on macro programs (1997).

The currently reconstructed list of his papers published between 1957 and 2007 consists of 38 books and monographs, 499 articles published in scientific and technical journals, as well as in the proceedings of numerous Symposia, 63 SS (out of 109), and 63 GENSTAT macro programs in the SRCE*SS-macro and SRCE*GENS-macro program libraries (accompanied with a selection of 4 education related documents) of the University Computing Centre, 762 SPSS macro programs in IKSI library, 390 technical reports, 63 published summaries of presented, yet unpublished papers from various symposia and conferences and 22 surveys and studies. The diversity and size of Konstantin Momirovic's intellectual heritage makes an impressive opus and creates a permanent obligation for his successors. In 2008, when the ITI Conference was celebrating its 30th Anniversary, Data Mining, Statistics and Biometrics Session was dedicated to the Memory of Konstantin Momirovic (1932- 2004).

Franjo Prot, Ankica Hošek, Ksenija Bosnar, Vesna Lužar-Stiffler, Vesna Hljuz Dobric, Zoran Bekic, and Marijan Gredelj