The 160th anniversary of the birth of Academician Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan was celebrated by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. The Vice-President of BAS corr.-mem. Vassil Nikolov and University Rector Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov opened the event which took place on 24 October 2019 in the aula of Sofia University.
Acad. Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan was elected member of the Bulgarian Learned Society in 1884 when he was only holding the scientific degree PhD of Charles University in Prague, said Academician Mikhail Videnov. He recalled that Balan was appointed first rector of Sofia University in 1888 and told curious events from the time he was a young researcher in the Czech capital. Balan was a scholar devoted to Bulgarian language with more than 800 contributions to the development of our language, said also Acad. Videnov.
Assoc. Prof. Georgi Valchev from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” recalled Acad. Balan’s contribution to the development of the university and his development of the first rules for the work of the university. He presented Balan’s memoirs, “A Book about Myself”, published after his death.
Nikolay Poppetrov from the Institute for Historical Studies of BAS presented a very interesting report on the topic “The Balan phenomenon”, and Prof. Yovka Tisheva from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and Assoc. Prof. Tatyana Aleksandrova from the Institute for Bulgarian Language “Prof. Lyubomir Andreychin” of BAS spoke about the contribution of Acad. Balan to the creation of Bulgarian grammar.
The celebration was evaluated by the organizers as a milestone of the memory of a prominent representative of the Bulgarian intellectual elite at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century.
