From Immigrant to Inventor

Michael Pupin

Jan 1924 · New York ; London : Scribner's sons

About this eBook

Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin was born in Idvor, a village which was in Hungary at the time, but is now in Serbia. In 1874, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a laborer for several years while learning English and discovering American culture. He found the library and lectures at the New York Cooper Union were important resources to him. Pupin entered Columbia College in 1879 and soon was known as an exceptional athlete and scholar. He was elected class president in his Junior yuear and graduated with honors in 1883, the same year he became a U.S. citizen. After earning his Ph.D. at the University of Berlin he returned to Columbia University in the new Dept. of Electrical Engineering. His patent in 1899 for "Pupin coils", or electrical loading coils made him a wealthy man, but he went on to obtain a total of 34 patents and released about 70 technical articles, in addition to this biography and other titles. Pupin was also a founder of the Serbian National Defense Council of America and served as its first president.