Vol.2, No 7, 1997 pp. vii-viii
 PROFESSOR VIKTOR SALJNIKOV,
ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 70TH ANNIVERSARY
Prof, Viktor Saljnikov was born on January 21, 1927 in Peć (Yugoslavia), in a family of Russian emigrants. He graduated in 1951 at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of mechanical Engineering, and immediately became a teaching assistant at that faculty, Chair of Fluid Mechanics, In 1956 he earned another undergraduate diploma, at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Department of Mechanics, and soon after that he left for Germany, to the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, where he began working on his Ph.D. Thesis under the supervision of Prof. Henry Görtler, a world's famous scientist, well-known for his work in the boundary layer theory, hydrodynamic stability theory, and geophysical fluid dynamics. At that institute he became for the first time acquainted with the boundary layer theory - the field of fluid mechanics which will designate his whole future scientific work. Under the guidance of Prof. Görtler, he prepared and in 1960 defended the doctoral thesis under the title: "Uebertragung der Görtler'schen Reihe auf die Berrechnung von Grenzschichten an Rotations-Körpern", thus obtaining the degree of Doctor of Sciences. After having returned to the country, he was elected an assistant professor, in 1965 he became an associate professor, and in 1970 he was promoted to the rank of full professor.
Several times in his career Prof. Saljnikov was a guest professor at foreign universities, where he delivered lectures and took part in scientific and research program, most frequently guiding the work on M.Sc. and doctoral theses. Thus he spent the school year 1970/71 at the University in Algeria, the period from 1987 to 1989 at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen, and a shorter time during 1989 at the Universities in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. For many years he was the Head of the Chair of Fluid Mechanics in his home institution, in 1988 he was elected an honorary member of the Yugoslav Society of Mechanics, as a participant at the Inaugural Congress of this association in Bled in 1951, while in 1989 he was elected a corresponding member of the European Academy of Science and Arts. Since 1988 he has been in retirement.
At the time when Prof. Saljnikov became assistant professor, the industralization of the former Yugoslavia was in full swing, and it was accompanied by a very extensive university teaching in the field of engineering. Being involved in teaching in several university centers, Prof. Saljnikov gave a notable contribution to the education of an impressive number of young graduated mechanical engineers. Also, after having returned to the country from Germany, he attracted with his ideas certain number of young researchers, who wanted to produce their M.Sc. and doctoral dissertations in the field of boundary layer theory under his mentorship. As the time passed, this number was constantly increasing, so that soon one could rightly talk of the existence of a whole school of the boundary layer theory in this country. Altogether, some 40 candidates defended their M.Sc. and Ph.D. dissertations under his guidance. The majority of his former Ph.D. candidates are now professors at the universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Podgorica, and other university centers of former Yugoslavia, while some live and work abroad.
Prof. Saljnikov is world known for his contributions in the boundary layer theory, in particular in generalizations and extensions of Loitsianski's method of universalization of boundary layer equations. He is the author of numerous papers published in international journals and the winner of several international acknowledgments. He is the member of the International Society of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (GAMM), the American Mathematical Society, the French Society of Mechanics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He is a referee of the reference journal "Zentralblatt für Mathematik", and was the member of the Scientific Committee of GAMM, and the correspondent of Euromech for Yugoslavia. Since 1989 he has been the corresponding member of the Europian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Prof. Saljnikov is a vigorous person with wide interests and of good health. He is still active in both teaching on postgraduate studies and participation in several research projects.
On behalf of his mother Chair, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and the Yugoslav Society of Mechanics, we wish him many years of a healthy life and a lot of successful and fruitful work.

Acad. Vladan Djordjević