Croatia’s plan to put the famous inventor Nikola Tesla on its euro coins has aroused criticism in Serbia, and the Serbian Central Bank said on Monday (July 26) that it would submit the issue to the European Union.
Tesla is a Serbian ethnicity who was born in today’s Croatia in 1856 when the country was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was the pride of the two countries. Since the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the relationship between the two countries has been cold.
Both Zagreb and Belgrade claim to be pioneers of modern electrical engineering.
Croatia has not yet introduced the euro in the country and plans to introduce it in 2023.
In a statement to Agence France-Presse, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) stated that putting Tesla on the coin was “inappropriate”.
It said that this would mean “usurping the cultural and scientific heritage of the Serbian people” because Tesla claimed to be a Serbian.
It added that “appropriate action with EU institutions” will be taken if it eventually happens, but it did not elaborate.
The plan sparked controversy on social networks between those who accused Zagreb of “stealing Tesla” and those who claimed that he “belongs to the whole world”.
Zagreb refuted the criticism, stressing that Tesla was born in Croatia.
Prime Minister Andrei Plenkovic said on Friday that Serbia cannot influence this decision.
“I don’t understand why this is a problem for anyone,” he said.
His deputy Boris Milosevic (Boris Milosevic), a Serbian ethnicity, said that this move made him “proud and happy.”
Tesla, whose ashes were placed in Serbia, regarded himself as a citizen of the world. He spent most of his career in the United States and eventually became a naturalized American.
During his lifetime, Tesla obtained more than 700 invention patents, including wireless communication, remote control, and fluorescent lighting.
Although he appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1931, Tesla died alone in a New York hotel 12 years later at the age of 86.
However, after Elon Musk named his electric car company after him, his name rose to fame internationally.
