Academician Zoran Knežević was elected at the election session as the new president of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU).
Knežević replaced the previous president, Vladimir S. Kostić, at the head of the Academy, receiving 75 votes against 33, which was received by his competitor, the composer Svetislav Božić.
Zoran Popović was elected SANU vice president for natural sciences with 71 votes, against 36 votes for Miodrag Mateljević, while Miodrag Marković became vice president for social sciences and humanities with 71 votes, as Slavenko Terzić received 35 votes.
In the vote of 114 members of SANU in the working composition, Nebojsa Lalić was elected as the general secretary, with 62 votes, while Dušica Lečić Toševski received 50 votes.
Academician Knežević graduated, master’s and doctorate at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Belgrade. His main scientific contribution belongs to the field of analytical theories of motion of small bodies of the solar system. He is one of the greatest connoisseurs of small bodies of the Solar System in the world.
Since 1973, he has held a number of different prominent positions at the Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade. He was the Director of the Observatory from 2002 to 2014.
He was elected a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2009, and a full member in 2015.
Knežević is a member of several international and Serbian astronomical organizations. At the suggestion of Italian astronomers, an asteroid – 3900 Knežević – was named after him.
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