Branimir Makanec (born 17 May 1932) is a Croatian computer engineer and programmer. Outside of his research work, he is also known in his native country as a pioneering advocate for

computer literacy Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with skill levels ranging from elementary use to computer programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer t ...

amongst school-aged children.

Background and education

Makanec is the son of Croatian nationalist academic and Ustashe politician Julije Makanec, a member of the

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

Makanec family who have produced many scholars and politicians. He was born in

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...

near the present-day Hungarian border when his father was a teacher at the local gymnasium. After his father's execution by

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

and the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945, Branimir and his mother returned to

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. Makanec graduated from the Electrotechnical Faculty at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

in 1961.

Career

Establishing a cybernetics group at the university in 1962, Makanec designed a TIOSS (remote self-organizing system) robot prototype that displayed rudimentary AI behaviour like handing out the pamphlets to public. He spent some time in the United States in 1968 to study the computing infrastructure and was exposed to the accessibility of computers, then considered to be exclusively for the scientific and research community, to the masses. In 1968, Makanec established the Multimedia Center of the Zagreb University Referral Center (MMC). The MMC was an open type computer center intended to be used for non-numerical purposes. The MMC was equipped with a

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

HP 2000 The HP 2100 is a series of 16-bit minicomputers that were produced by Hewlett-Packard (HP) from the mid-1960s to early 1990s. Tens of thousands of machines in the series were sold over its 25-year lifetime, making HP the fourth-largest minicomput ...

Time-Sharing BASIC system, computer terminals, and a

teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point and point- ...

. The MMC, during nearly twenty years of existence, gave thousands of children and students an opportunity to learn programming and socialise with people of similar interests. Makanec worked for Ivasim ( hr) and was part of the team responsible for the development of the Ivel Ultra. It was the first Yugoslav-designed

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

. In 2003, the Croatian Ministry of Education and Science awarded Makanec the lifetime technical achievement award "Faust Vrancic".

References

Lifetime Achievement record at Croatian Science and Education Ministry

HP 2000 TSB web page
1932 births Living people People from Koprivnica Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb alumni Roboticists Croatian engineers {{Croatia-bio-stub

Background and education

Career

See also

References