Smail Balić

Historian, culturologist and scholar. Born in Mostar, he studied in Sarajevo and obtained his Ph.D in 1945 from the University of Vienna. He was employed at various archival and historicist positions, especially in German-speaking countries. Until 1986 he performed a number of significant scientific and archival functions such as a researcher of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Goethe University Frankfurt, a member of the Association of Austrian writers, and a corresponding member of the Jordanian Islamic Academy science. In 1995, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class. He spoke numerous languages fluently including: Arabic, Turkish, Persian and English, besides his native Bosnian and German.