Necrology of Prof. Tibor Jávor, M.Sc., PhD., DrSc

Title: Necrology of Prof. Tibor Jávor, M.Sc., PhD., DrSc
Author(s): L. Nad
Paper category : journal
Serial title: Materials and Structures
Abreviated Serial title: Mater. Struct.
ISSN: 1359-5997
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Volume: 34
Issue: 239
Issue date: 2001-06-01
Publication year: 2001
Pages: 320 - 320
Total Pages: 1
Language: English

Abstract: It is difficult to find proper words when our close,fellow worker leaves us unexpectedly and forever.
He was a colleague with whom more than working relations,after many years of co-operation,linked one.
Such relations can well apply to Prof.
Tibor Jávor,DrSc.
who worked for almost ten years at the Department of Concrete Structures and Bridges of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University in Kos ˇice.
Thus,it was even more difficult to become reconciled with the fact that he passed away from a life that he was able to live at full stretch.
Those who knew him closely could testify that his activities had been as if without any limits.
Listing them within a few lines,or even pages,would be impossible.
In former Czechoslovakia,in Slovakia,and perhaps even more in foreign countries, Prof.
Jávor was known especially in the field of experimental verification.
He was a renowned expert in experimental mechanics of building structures and in diagnostic of bridges of which he was a pioneer and an enthusiastic promoter.
He was a member of many professional and scientific international societies and organisations.
High professional erudition and direct,sincere nature were his precious qualities.
Thanks are due to the fact that he commanded respect,natural authority,and gained supporters and friends all over the world.
Prof.
Jávor was born on 18 August 1931 in Malacky,Slovakia.
He graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering,Technical University Brno in 1954.
After a short work as building inspector in Stavoindustria Company and a residential course of design in Leningrad,he started his life-long research career.
Almost 35 years of work in the Research Institute of Civil Engineering (VÚIS)in Bratislava meant very much in his professional life and in his professional advancement.
Bridges,experimental verification,diagnostic and long-term examinations were the essential fields of his activity.
He was a co-ordinator of many state research assignments,the solution of which involved almost all of the leading Czechoslovak scientific and research institutions -universities,institutes but also large industrial enterprises.
In 1958 he acquired the scientific degree of PhD at the Czech Technical University Prague.
In 1963 he was appointed Associate Professor at the Zilina University of Transport and in 1985 he was awarded the scientific degree of DrSc at the Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava.
In 1990 he was appointed FullProfessor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University Kos ˇice.
His professional,scientific research and teaching activities were extraordinarily rich.
He lectured at the Brno Technical University, Zilina University of Transport,and Slovak Technical University Bratislava.
He also lectured in Canada,Argentina,USA, Australia,New Zealand,China,South Korea,and several European countries.
He was Chairman of the Commission for State Examinations at the Faculties of Civil Engineering at Brno, Bratislava,Zilina and Kos ˇice.
He was a member of Commissions for Defending PhD.
and DrSc.
Dissertation Theses in Prague, Bratislava,Zilina and Kos ˇice.
He was a member of the Scientific Councils of several faculties,a member of commissions and opposed many accreditation and inauguration proceedings.
He was a supervisor of 15 postgraduate students.
He was Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Technical University Kos ˇice and later,a member of the Academic Senate of the Faculty.
He was in charge of several national and international research grant projects (e.
g.
PECO,INCO-COPERNICUS).
Prof.
Jávor was an active member and officer of several non-governmental international scientific and professional societies and organisations (e.
g.
RILEM,IABSE, IMEKO,OSZD,ASCCS,ACI).
He was one of RILEM ’s oldest members and he presided over working commissions for a short period of time.
He was a member of program and scientific commissions of many national and international conferences in various countries of the world.
He regularly organised international conferences that were included in the calendar of professional events of significant international societies -RILEM,IABSE.
.
.
He was a regular and active participant in congresses,conferences,and symposiums practically all over the world.
He published 335 professional and scientific –research papers,15 of them monographs.
He was author and co-author of seven patented technical solutions.
Prof.
Jávor attained important recognition and acknowledgement for his rich research and publishing activity.
He was awarded the State Prize twice and the FMTIR Prize once for Science and Research in former Czechoslovakia,the OSZD Plaque as well as Plaques of Civil Engineering Faculties of Bratislava,Poznan and Gdansk Universities.
Among the most significant is the RILEM Medal in 1977 and his appointment to the post of Adjunct Professor of Technical University at San Juan in Argentina,1989.
Merciless,unexpected death broke Prof.
Jávor ´s fruitful work,a work that was planned for some further period of time despite his age.
He departed amidst preparations for another conference, further publications and research projects.
The Faculty of Civil Engineering,its employees and students,as well as the Slovak and the international scientific community,lost a very good colleague with the death of Prof.
Jávor.
He truly was an expert on bridges that have become well-known all over the world.
Prof.
Tibor Jávor,DrSc.
left us suddenly and for ever on 17 July 2000,only a month before his 69th birthday.
He would have been 70 years old this year and he had been looking forward to it; he wanted to devote himself to the next conference.

Online publication: 2001-04-27
Classification: RILEM Bulletin
Publication type : full_text
Public price (Euros): free
doi: 10.1617/13742