Interview with Slovenian
Inventor Miran Milkovic
“My home is still
in Slovenia, I only live here.”
Miran Milkovic, son of renowned
Slovenian author of children’s books, Adam Milkovic, got into
electronics as a young member of anti-nazi resistance. His group built
two way radios for the partisan forces from equipment that British
aircraft dropped in parts of
Slovenia
. After college he went to
Germany
for a year to apply his academic knowledge at Grundig. Instead of going
back to
Slovenia
, he went to
Switzerland
, and then to the
United States
twelve years later. He was part of a research group that worked on
development of the very first cell phone. He has dozens of patents in
the area of microelectronics and is now, at the age of 80, starting to
explore other interesting fields, such as biotechnology, and
biomedical, and cancer research.
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Mr. Milkovic, I understand you have
been in the US
for a while. But how long ago was it that you left Slovenia?
I left
Slovenia
after I finished my studies at the Electrotechnical Faculty of
University in
Ljubljana
in 1956. I then left for Nurnberg, Germany
to specialize at Grundig AG for one year in radio engineering. After, a
friend from mine at the faculty, Gregor Cremosnik, who worked at ETH in Zurich,
Switzerland
at that time, asked me to come to work in Switzerland.
And sincePresern’s Vrba was saying:
|
| Miran Milkovic |
“Da bi uka zeja me
iz tvojga sveta ne bila speljala goljfiva kaca....” (or in
English: “…The lure of learning beckoned me away / Its serpent
wiles enticing me to roam, …”, SlovInUS News™ Note),
also and I thought I’d learn some more there. In
Switzerland
I started to work at Landis @ Gyr AG in Zug in new areas of
microelectronics. I worked in the Electronics Research Laboratory and
that was very interesting. From 1961 to 1964, I worked on my doctoral
thesis at ETH (Eidgenosische Technische Hochschule) in Zurich. In 1969, I accepted an offer from General Electric Company in
Schenectady,
NY, where I worked in the Electronics Laboratory in Corporate Research and
Development
Center. The work was extremely interesting and I stayed at GE for about 20
years, resulting in about 80 scientific papers and about 50
patents. In 1990, I accepted an offer from the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta,
GA, where I was a professor at the School
of
Electrical Engineering
for about six years. After that, I started my own business in
electronics technology consulting (ERA) - Electronics Research
Associates - for several years and then I decided to take time off for
myself. Thus, I have been in the US
for nearly 40 years. During all those years I visited Slovenia
almost each year.
You said 50 patents. Well, there
were more inventions but 50 got patented. Can you tell us some more
about it? Your son mentioned to me cell phone and LCD screen …
Yes, we worked on variety of projects
at GE. There was a group of scientists there in electronics, physics,
chemistry, mechanical engineering, etc. Our group started working on LED
the light emitting diodes, and on LCD the liquid crystal devices, and I
was also involved in the group that was working on the first cell
phone. After then I was working on electronic devices for measuring of
electrical energy, the so-called watt hour metering and on
microelectronic integrated circuits for several years and the results
were those patents and publications. I had also taught analog
electronics at the Rensselear Institute of Technology in Troy,
NY, as an adjunct professor of Electrical Engineering. In 1990, I
accepted an offer from The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta,
Georgia
as a professor of electrical engineering. Again, Presern’s “Vrba”
led me to Atlanta. However, here in
Atlanta, the weather in summer was too warm for me, and I thought to go
back up North, but my wife liked it here and my son got used to it, so I
decided to stay.
Before we talk about Slovenia
one more question about patents. Today, can we buy a product that you
invented, patented?
Yes, mainly in the area of industrial
and in residential electronic energy metering. The devices are produced
by a variety of companies including GE and all are direct or indirect
results of my research at GE.
You said earlier, “Home is still
Slovenia, I only live here.” You have lived abroad for 40 years but have been
visiting Slovenia
on a regular basis. How much has it changed during those years?
We can look at it in many ways, how
people have changed, how the country has changed, how the land has
changed. I would say all has changed a lot, especially after Slovenia
got its independence and with the membership in the European Union. The
mentality of the people is changing as well. I lived in Switzerland
for twelve years, and Slovenians are quite similar to the Swiss
people in many ways. And, even as a
US
citizen, I do know where I came from, and that my real home is in Slovenia.
You have experienced living in
Germany,
Switzerland, the
United States, and, of course, Slovenia. You’ve spent the longest time in the
United States. There are things in each country or society we live in that we like
and would like to see in our home country and vice versa. What are
things that you enjoy here in the US
and would like to see also in Slovenia? And maybe something from
Slovenia
that is missing here in the US?
I liked the order, cleanliness, and
precision in Switzerland, as well as its beauties. People there are very well organized.
For all of these reasons I always visit Switzerland
when I go to Slovenia. It seems to me that
Slovenia
and Switzerland
are heading in the same direction. Maybe
Slovenia
will become more international than Switzerland
because of the membership in the European Union. With regard to the US, it is a large continent. I didn’t really like living in the US
at the beginning. It took me at least two years to get used to the
different life style, and to the disorder as it appeared to me coming
from Switzerland. What was interesting in the US
was the uncomplicated life style, that was missing in Europe,
including Slovenia, but it is all changing. It was mostly easy to establish communication
here. People here in US are not as conservative in that regard as
they are in
Europe.At least here in the Eastern part of US. Also, there is a lot of space
here in the US, and you can go where you want, and do what you want. You don’t have
to change in any way. That’s what I liked here in the US. However, it would be nice to find a restaurant offering typical
Slovenian food and good recipes.
You mentioned other parts of the
US. Have you traveled a lot across the country?
Yes, I traveled a lot around in the
US
as well as to
Europe
while I worked at General Electric. There’s a difference, for example,
between East and West like in
Arizona
and New York. People have different mentalities in different places, but its
easily connecting with people everywhere. I also noticed a difference in
mentality between the North and South, like
New York
and Georgia, for example.
In what sense?
The mentality is different. It’s
similar like in
Europe
- North and South. The mentality, how they think, how they work, etc.
Do you have a special place or a
special state that you always go back to visit or you have really fond
memories of?
Here in US, I would like to live in Colorado. Those places are similar to the ones I grew up. They remind me of
Switzerland
and Slovenia.
Do you ski?
Of course. In Switzerland
we would go skiing every week. We did ski a lot in NY, but not
here in Georgia, since we don’t have enough snow.
I thought if you went to Montana
or other places?
I wish I would go there often for
mountain climbing and to ski. However, I also like boating here
Georgia, its all year long, and I had a boat on
Lake
Lanier
for many years. We used to spend a lot of time outside.
When you traveled around the United States
have you ever met any Slovenians, Slovenian communities, or have you
ever been connected with one?
When we first came to Atlanta
there was this really small group of Slovenian, just a few people
actually. But I was always very busy at work and didn’t have enough
time. Apparently there are around 50 Slovenian families in the Atlanta
area.
In regard to your scientific work,
do you ever invent anything for yourself for example?
No, not any more. I was quite involved
in publications in the area of microelectronics, but nowadays I am quite
interested in molecular biology, in biomedical sciences and in cancer
research.
Are you actively involved in
biology and the medical field?
I do it mainly due to my interests in
life science.
Do you have an advice for new
immigrants to the US?
You have to tolerate the life style
here in terms of public life. However, you can still stay what you are,
you don’t have to change, but you should accept the life style,
schooling, etc. The
US
is the US and it will not change.
Do you ever think about moving back
to Slovenia
?
Probably not, it’s too late for me.
You lived in many places around the
world. You mentioned that your home is still Slovenia. Where would you like to be buried?
First I thought my ashes to be buried
in St. Ozbalt, where I was born. On the other hand it’s really not
important where one returns back into nonliving matter.
Is that kind of thinking a result
of the internationalization of
Slovenia
or maybe your spiritual growth?
If one travels and sees many different
places, one can compare those experiences and then live accordingly. The
world is becoming smaller, and today it is really not important where
you live, but it’s important to know who you are, and where you came
from.
*
Interview was conducted using Skype
and recorded using Pamela
Recorder.
