Slovenian Technical Museum Exhibit Us & Them Without Frontiers Slovenian Museum and Archives 6407 St. Clair Ave. Cleveland September 13, 2024
Founded in 1951, the Technical Museum of Slovenia (TMS) aims to research, collect and exhibit Slovenia's technical heritage, as well as to protect the historically important technical buildings, installations and machines. Its collections (historically) elaborate on various topics such as cars, bicycles and other vehicles; the sawing, woodworking, textile and milling industries; printing and bookmaking; telecommunications services; and so on.
Established in 2010, the Slovenian Museum & Archives works to collect, preserve, and share objects and artifacts that tell the stories of Slovenian life, identity, and migration. Their reading room, archival collections, exhibitions, and programs serve as an important resource for scholars, students, and lovers of Slovene art and culture—not only in Cleveland, but around the world.
On Friday September 13, 2024 the Slovenian Museum & Archives held the grand opening of a new exhibit, Us & Them: Without Frontiers.
Organized by the Technical Museum of Slovenia, Us & Them: Without Frontiers examines the fascinating scientific connections between Slovenia and the United States, and the benefits that have resulted from both cultural migration and shared knowledge. The project—which showcases original memorabilia as well as digital interactive tools—tells the compelling stories of individuals who have a strong, direct connection to the US, including Slovenian American astronaut Sunita Williams, Voyager engineer Anton Mavretic, professor of experimental physics Anton Peterlin, planet hunter Marija Strojnik, professor of electronics Aleš Strojnik, Silicon Valley pioneer France Rode, and inventor Peter Florjancic.
The program began with a welcome from Museum Board Member Dr. Luka Ziblenik.
Dr. Luka Ziblenik
Next, Consul General of Slovenia Suzana Cešarek spoke.
Consul General of Slovenia Suzana Cešarek
She was followed by Technical Museum of Slovenia Director Barbara Jursic.
Barbara Jursic
Then, Museum Councilor Irena Marusic explained the accomplishments of many of the people featured in the exhibit.
Irena Marusic
Here is a video of the program.
After the formal presentation, guests toured the Exhibit and the rest of the Slovenian Museum and Archives.
Luka Zibelnik and Consul General Cesarek
Here are a few of my favorite exhibits starting with France Rode (1934-2017) who was the lead engineer on the team that invented the first scientific calculator, the HP-35, which had arithmetic, logarithmic and trigonometric functions. Hewlett-Packard had already developed a desktop computer when Bill Hewlett came up with the idea to create a computer that would fit in his shirt pocket. It was revolutionary.
Silicon Valley Pioneer France Rode Exhibit
Planet Hunter Marija Strojnik (1950) is best known for developing an autonomous technique for optical navigation, which remains one of the fundamental methods for determining location and orientation on and around Earth. The technology was first deployed on the Cassini mission to Saturn.
Planet Hunter Marija Strojnik Exhibit
Primoz Trubar (1508-1586) was the author of the first printed book in Slovenia and the founder of the Slovenian literary language. He also published an eight-leaf booklet containing the first Slovenian alphabet.
Primoz Trubar Exhibit
A very popular exhibit was that of astronaut Sunita L. Williams. Suni Williams was born in 1965 in Euclid, Ohio (but grew up in Massachusetts.) Her father, Deepak Pandya, was an Indian-born neuroanatomist from Mehsana district, Gujarat, while her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya (née Zalokar) was a Slovene-American. She has taken the Slovenian flag, a samosa and Carniolan sausage to space in celebration of her Indian and Slovenian heritage. Her nicknames are Suni in the United States and Soncka in Slovenia.
Williams has visited Slovenia several times. In 2009, the club Slovenian Astronaut (Slovenski astronavt) arranged a memorial room for her in Leše, Tržic, northwestern Slovenia. Leše was the birthplace of her great-grandmother Marija Bohinjec, born in 1891, who immigrated to the United States as an 11-year-old in 1900 or 1901. In May 2013, the former President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, awarded Williams a medal of merit for her contribution to the popularization of science and technology among the Slovenian youth. During her stay in October 2014 she paid a visit to the Astronomical Society Vega in Ljubljana.
At this time, Suni and another astronaut are still stranded in space. Initially planned for just 8 days, their mission has been delayed by 8 months due to faulty thrusters of Boeing's spacecraft. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has revealed that Starliner's propulsion system, plagued by thruster malfunctions and helium leaks, posed a great a risk for a crewed return of the spacecraft. Plans are to return to Earth in February 2025.
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