Academician Fedor Herbut passed away

It is with profound regret that the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts announces the passing of its member Fedor Herbut (b. Novi Vrbas, 2 May 1932) aged 91, on 25 September 2023. He was one of our foremost experts in the field of theoretical physics, internationally recognized for his outstanding scientific achievements in the field of quantum theory of information and quantum mechanics.

The field of his scientific expertise included the foundations of the quantum theory of information, derivation of probability law in quantum mechanics, identical particles, presentation of state vectors corresponding to the two-particle systems using anti-linear Hilbert–Schmidt operators, measurement theory, quantum logic, interpretation of relative states and applied mathematics and mathematical physics.

He graduated in physics from the Faculty of Science in Belgrade in 1957. Following the completion of BSc studies, he found a job as an assistant at the Boris Kidrič Institute in Vinča. In the period 1960-1963, as a scholarship student of the Institute, he attended and was professionally trained on his post-doc studies at the University of Birmingham (England), at the Department of Theoretical Physics under the mentorship of the renowned physicist Rudolph E. Peierls. He received his doctoral degree at the same university in 1964. After his return to the country, he continued working at the Boris Kidrič Institute, where he was named a research associate in 1965, and a senior research associate in 1974. He transferred to the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Belgrade in 1976, where he was elected to all teaching positions, ending a full professor in 1984.

As a corresponding member of the SASA Department of Mathematics, Physics and Geo-Sciences, he was elected in 1988, and he became a full member in 2003. Concerning SASA positions, he was a president of the Board for Physics and Meteorology within the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Geo-Sciences, as well as a president of the Board for Physics and a leader of the Statisticity and Causality in Quantum Mechanics scientific project.

His rich scientific bibliography encompasses over 100 scientific papers published in expert domestic and international journals, a great number of scientific studies and several textbooks, some of which are Kvantna mehanika za istraživače I and II, which, due to their visionary content and wholesomeness have become one of the most compelling scientific publications in our language, thus paving the way for Belgrade School of Quantum Mechanics.

He was a permanent member of the International Association of Mathematical Physicists, as well as the editorial board of the domestic scientific journal Sveske fizičkih nauka SFIN.

He received the Boris Kidrič Award for the best scientific paper in 1968.

With his scientific and pedagogical work, he made a tremendous contribution to the development of theoretical physics.

His departure represents a great loss to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the overall science.