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slovenska akademiJa Znanosti in umetnosti

Zbornik v spomin na akademika Jožeta trontlJa

prispevki s srečanJa v spomin na akademika Jožeta trontlJa

5. decembra 2014v dvorani slovenske akademiJe Znanosti

in umetnosti

The Jože TronTelJ MeMorial Proceedingsaddresses froM The Jože TronTelJ MeMorial

5 deceMber 2014aT The greaT hall of The slovenian acadeMy

of sciences and arTs

ISBN 978-961-268-036-7

SlovenSka akademija znanoSti in umetnoSti

zbornik v Spomin na akademika Jožeta trontlJa

PrisPevki s srečanJa v sPomin na akademika Jožeta trontlJa

5. decembra 2014v dvorani SlovenSke akademije znanoSti

in umetnoSti




CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana

929Trontelj J.(082) 616.8(497.4):929Trontelj J.(082)

ZBORNIK v spomin na akademika Jožeta Trontlja : prispevki s srečanja v spomin na akademika Jožeta Trontlja : 5. decembra 2014 v dvorani Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti = The Jože Trontelj Memorial proceedings : addresses from The Jože Trontelj Memorial : 5 December 2014 at The Great Hall of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts / [urednik Uroš Skalerič]. - V Ljubljani : Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 2015

ISBN 978-961-268-036-7 1. Vzp. stv. nasl. 2. Trontelj, Jože, 1939-2013 3. Skalerič, Uroš 278726144

Sprejeto na Seji predSedStva SlovenSke akademije znanoSti in umetnoSti

dne 11. novembra 2014

urednikakad. UroŠ skalerič

Akademik Jože Trontelj / Academician Jože Trontelj(1939–2013)

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Kazalo / Contents

Tadej Bajd: Akademik Jože Trontelj – leta predsedovanja Slovenski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti ...................................... 7

Erik Stålberg: Življenje Jožeta Trontlja kot kliničnega nevrofiziologa .................................................................................. 15

Donald B. Sanders: Nagovor ............................................................ 19

Milan R Dimitrijević: Jože Trontelj, kolega, zdravnik in raziskovalec ................................................................................. 23

Janez Zidar: Jože Trontelj – dolgoletni sodelavec Inštituta za klinično nevrofiziologijo Kliničnega centra v Ljubljani ................. 27

Božidar Voljč: Nekaj spominov na Jožeta Trontlja ............................ 33

Janek Musek: Etika in vrednote za prihodnost ................................. 37

Tone Žakelj: Spomin na raziskovalca Jožeta Trontlja ....................... 41

Janez Trontelj: Spomini na brata Jožeta ........................................... 45

O avtorjih prispevkov ....................................................................... 94

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Tadej Bajd: Academician Jože Trontelj – The Years of his Presidency of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ............. 49

Erik Stålberg: Joze Trontelj´s Life as a Clinical Neurophysiologist .... 55

Donald B. Sanders: Address ............................................................. 59

Milan R. Dimitrijević: Jože Trontelj – Colleague, Doctor and Researcher ................................................................................ 63

Janez Zidar: Jože Trontelj – a Long-standing Fellow at the Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana ............................................................................... 67

Božidar Voljč: A Few Memories of Jože Trontelj ............................... 75

Janek Musek: Ethics and Values for the Future ............................... 81

Tone Žakelj: In Memory of Jože Trontelj, a Colleague, Researcher and Friend ........................................................................................ 87

Janez Trontelj: Memory of my Brother Jože ..................................... 91

A Word on the Authors .................................................................... 95

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Tadej Bajd

Akademik Jože Trontelj – leta predsedovanja Slovenski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti

UvodAkademik Trontelj je bil za izrednega člana Slovenske akademije zna-

nosti in umetnosti izvoljen leta 1991, redni član je postal v letu 1995, podpredsednik leta 2002 in predsednik 6. maja 2008. Imel sem prilo-žnost, da sem bil podpredsednik Akademije v njegovem drugem trile-tnem mandatu. Poznal pa sem ga že prej, predvsem zaradi sodelovanja med Inštitutom za klinično nevrofiziologijo in Fakulteto za elektrotehni-ko na področju računalniške obdelave biomedicinskih signalov. Včasih

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sva se celo srečala na isti mednarodni konferenci. Dobro sem poznal in spoštoval njegove mednarodno pomembne raziskovalne dosežke.

V tem prispevku se želim omejiti na pet let in pol njegovega predse-dovanja Slovenski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti. To obdobje zazna-mujeta dva mejnika, na začetku 70-letnica in ob koncu 75-letnica SAZU. V nagovoru ob 70-letnici je poudaril skrb za tradicijo. Ugotavljal je, da je tradicija nekaj, česar se naša generacija in naš del sveta nista naučila spo-štovati. Reforme so lahko pametne, a to še ne pomeni, da so tudi modre. Duhovito je pripomnil, da je modrost pamet z dolgo časovno konstanto.

AkademijaAkademik Trontelj se je zavedal odgovornosti predsedovanja Slo-

venski Akademiji znanosti in umetnosti. V enem izmed letnih poročil je takole zapisal: »Avtonomija, samostojnost, neodvisnost posameznika pa tudi institucije postajajo vse bolj čislane, vse bolj dragocene vredno-te. S tega stališča smo akademiki in Akademija nadpovprečno privilegi-rani. Privilegij pa pomeni tudi dolžnost. Mislim naš dolg do družbe. Po najboljših močeh moramo poskrbeti, da izpolnimo njena upravičena pričakovanja.«

Posebno pozornost je predsednik Trontelj namenil sprejemom ob okroglih jubilejih kolegic akademikinj in kolegov akademikov. Ob teh dogodkih je pripravil dolge nagovore, v katerih je navzočim predstavil dosežke, ki so jubilantki ali jubilantu odprli vrata v najvišjo ustanovo slovenskih znanstvenikov in umetnikov.

Člani SAZU so se na pobudo predsednika večkrat odzvali na huma-nitarni klic. Darovali so za počitnice otrok, pomagali revnim družinam in prizadetim v poplavah ter namenili denar za šolnine revnih dijakov.

Mednarodno sodelovanjePredsednik Trontelj je podpiral vzdrževanje delovnih stikov SAZU z

različnimi mednarodnimi forumi, mrežami in zvezami, predvsem pa s svetovalnim odborom za znanost evropskih akademij (European Aca-

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demies Science Advisory Council, EASAC), Združenjem evropskih aka-demij (All European Academies, ALLEA) in Evropsko akademijo znano-sti in umetnosti. Med njegovim predsedovanjem se je SAZU pridružila tudi Konferenci podonavskih akademij, ki v multilateralnem sodelova-nju združuje 21 akademij širšega Podonavja. Sam je sodeloval v ožji skupini Stalnega odbora za znanost in etiko evropskega medakademij-skega združenja ALLEA. Odbor se je ukvarjal s kodeksom moralne in-tegritete znanstvenikov in izobraževanjem v etiki in filozofiji znanosti kot delom usposabljanja mladih raziskovalcev. V zvezi s to dejavnostjo velja poudariti dokument Ethics Education in Science. Med avtorji po-membnega stališča je tudi akademik Trontelj.

Ob nastopu njegovega predsedovanja se je končeval projekt Val-vasorjeva ikonoteka, to je natis 18 obsežnih knjig faksimilov grafičnih listov iz zapuščine našega velikega prednika in člana londonske Royal Society. Za gigantski projekt gre zasluga neutrudni prizadevnosti dr. Lojzeta Gostiše. Leta 2008 je bila ikonoteka predstavljena v Slovenski filharmoniji. Leta 2010 se je predsednik Trontelj udeležil slovesnosti ob 350-letnici Royal Society, najstarejše neprekinjeno delujoče akademije na svetu. Ugledni akademiji je poklonil izvod ikonoteke. V letu 2011 je podaril še dva izvoda Valvasorjeve grafične zbirke. Enega je prejela Av-strijska narodna knjižnica na Dunaju, kjer imamo Slovenci shranjenega veliko svojega knjižnega bogastva. Drugi izvod faksimila pa je šel v naj-večjo skandinavsko knjižnico, Carolino Redivivo v Uppsali na Švedskem. V naslednjem letu je bil izvod faksimila Valvasorjeve ikonoteke podar-jen eni najuglednejših svetovnih grafičnih zbirk, dunajski Albertini.

Med njegove zadnje mednarodne dogodke pa je sodila podelitev priznanja za strpnost patru Pedru Opeki. Podelitev priznanja Evropske akademije znanosti in umetnosti je potekala v prostorih SAZU.

Varovanje okoljaV svojih nagovorih in zapisih je predsednik Trontelj večkrat poudar-

jal, da mora Slovenija bistveno spremeniti svojo strategijo razvoja, saj

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po metodiki ekoloških odtisov za več kot faktor 2 presega planetarno sprejemljivo porabo naravnih virov in emisij toplogrednih plinov. Ne-sprejemljivo potratno porablja naravne vire in hudo preobremenjuje okolje. Opozarjal je na razsipno rabo energije in hitro večanje cestnega prometa. Kljub spornosti pridobivanja električne energije iz atomskih central je v njih videl edino kratkoročno možno in finančno sprejemljivo rešitev, ki ne bi povečala emisij toplogrednih plinov. Pod njegovim vod-stvom se je Akademija zavzemala za ustanovitev regijskega parka na ožjem območju Krasa in podprla program za ohranitev naravnih in kul-turnih vrednot Goričkega. Opozarjal je na nujnost varovanja kmetijskih zemljišč. Ugovarjal je privatizaciji vodnih virov. Pozival je k ohranitvi še nedotaknjenih rek, posebno Soče s pritoki. Odsvetoval je degradacijo Mure z gradnjo hidrocentral. Posebej zanimiv in izviren pa je njegov predlog, da bi Slovenci kot prvi vzpostavili institucijo ombudsmana za pravice in koristi prihodnjih generacij.

Posebno pozornost je posvečal tudi varstvu pomembnih kultur-nih spomenikov in arhitekturne in urbanistične dediščine vrhunske vrednosti. Med nujnimi temami so bili načrtovani posegi v stavbne in urbanistične vrednote stare Ljubljane. Zagovarjal je zamisel o muzeju koliščarske naselbine na Špici in vložil protest ob odločitvi, da se ustavi in odpove že načeti projekt nove Narodne in univerzitetne knjižnice. Čeprav je SAZU opozarjala na obsojanja vredno uničevanje naše kultur-ne dediščine, ji mestnih oblasti ni uspelo odvrniti od rušenja Kolizeja.

ŠolstvoPouk naravoslovja je postal posebna skrb svetovnih in evropskih

akademij. Tako je predsednik Trontelj opozarjal na relativno zaposta-vljenost naravoslovnih ved v srednješolskem izobraževanju in na neu-ravnoteženo vpisovanje maturantov na različne smeri visokošolskega študija. V času njegovega predsedstva so potekali na SAZU trije posveti: posvet o poučevanju biologije, posvet o poučevanju matematike, fizike in kemije, ter posvet o poučevanju tehnike v srednjih šolah. Spodbujal

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je tudi pripravo posveta o umetnosti vzgoji ter o pouku v družboslovju in humanistiki. Tem njegovim željam bomo morali ustreči v čim bližnji prihodnosti.

Posebno pozornost je posvečal rabi slovenščine in tujih jezikov na slovenskih univerzah. Ugotavljal je, da sicer neizogibna internacionali-zacija visokošolskega študija lahko prinese tudi neugodne posledice. Tu je imel v mislih predvsem neupravičeno omejevanje pravic slovenskih študentov in zaostajanje pri razvoju slovenskega strokovnega izrazja. V času njegovega predsedovanja je potekal posvet o slovenščini v viso-kem šolstvu in znanosti, katerega sklepi so bili posredovani ministru. Ob tem pa je opozarjal tudi na enako nevarno in vse bolj razširjeno malomarnost in zanikrnost pri rabi vsakdanji slovenščine.

Narodna spravaPredsednik Republike Slovenije dr. Danilo Türk je Akademiji predla-

gal, da pomaga pri ustvarjanju verodostojnega znanstveno neoporeč-nega pogleda na delovanje pravne države in na kršitve človekovih pra-vic, za katere je bila odgovorna oblast v desetletjih po drugi svetovni vojni. V tej pobudi je predsednik Trontelj videl pomembno nalogo, ki bi lahko dala pomemben prispevek k narodni spravi. Močno se je trudil, da bi bil okrutno usmrčenim v zunajsodnih povojnih pobojih posve-čen sočuten spomin. Priznaval je, da je bilo marsikaj storjeno in hkrati ugotavljal, da je bilo spravnih dejanj premalo. Ustanovil je komisijo za človekove pravice, ki si je zadala nalogo, da pripravi osnutek izjave, s katero bi se Akademija opredelila do kršitev človekovih pravic po drugi svetovni vojni. Osnutek je naletel na mešan odziv. Na Akademiji ni bilo dovolj soglasja, da bi bila izjava objavljena.

Slovenski znanstveni inštitut in Slovenska maticaNa pobudo predsednika Trontlja se je SAZU vključila v reševanje za-

pleta med Vlado in Slovenskim znanstvenim inštitutom (SZI) na Duna-ju. SAZU je skušala v sodelovanju z ministrstvoma za znanost in kulturo

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prispevati tudi k dolgoročnejši ureditvi financiranja Slovenske matice. Čeprav je SZI dobro opravljal svoje poslanstvo in je Matica v letošnjem letu obhajala častitljivo 150-letnico, noben od obeh projektov do da-našnjega dne ni uspel.

ZaključekMesec dni pred smrtjo akademika Trontlja je predsednik Republi-

ke Slovenije Borut Pahor Slovensko akademijo znanosti in umetnosti odlikoval z redom za izredne zasluge. Akademija je ob 75-letnici svoje-ga delovanja priznanje prejela za izjemen prispevek k spodbujanju in pospeševanju znanosti in umetnosti. V utemeljitvi je tudi zapisano, da se je povečalo število simpozijev na državni in mednarodni ravni, stro-kovni posveti se lotevajo tudi izrazito aktualnih tem in njeni akademiki pogosto sodelujejo pri svetovanju drugim ustanovam.

Ob 75-letnici SAZU je izšel obsežen Biografski zbornik, prvi del Zgo-dovine Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti ter knjiga Ljubljana kot novi Rim. Akademija operozov in baročna Italija. Pripravljena je bila tudi razstava z naslovom Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti v zrcalu časa. Obletnico je spremljalo tudi več prispevkov v dnevnem časopisju in poseben film na nacionalni televiziji.

Osrednja slovesnost s koncertno izvedbo del slovenskih skladate-ljev akademikov je potekala v Slovenski filharmoniji. Takrat nismo mo-gli vedeti, da smo zadnjič prisluhnili nagovoru predsednika akademika Jožeta Trontlja. V svojem nagovoru se je s ponosom spominjal ljubljan-ske Academiae Operosorum, ki je kot šesta nacionalna akademija ta-koj za londonsko Royal Society stopila na evropsko prizorišče. Znova je poudaril skrb za materinščino, kot že tolikokrat prej ponovno opozoril na neodgovorno gospodarjenje z dragocenimi vrednotami narodne dediščine in se zavzemal za posodobitev izobraževanja v naravoslov-ju in humanistiki na ravni osnovnega in srednjega šolstva. Sedanjo in prihodnjo vlogo Akademije je videl v skrbni pripravi pogledov v priho-dnost na podlagi znanosti.

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Predsednik Trontelj mi je ostal v spominu kot resen, zadržan, malo-dane slavnosten mož. Na sestankih izvršilnega odbora je govoril tako tiho, da smo ostali člani morali ohranjati popolno tišino, če smo želeli ujeti vsako njegovo besedo. Moji kolegi, ki so z njim skupaj jadrali, so mi opisovali povsem drugačnega Jožeta, odprtega, bolj vedrega in pri-pravljenega za šalo.

Na Akademiji se je razživel le ob duhovitih novoletnih nagovorih. Večkrat je na šalo obrnil sicer neveselo politično situacijo na Sloven-skem. Novoletno zdravico je vselej zaključil s spodbudnimi besedami. Kot nekdanji dijak klasične gimnazije je v svoje govore rad vpletal la-tinske reke. Tako je zdravico ob enem izmed praznovanj novega leta sklenil z besedami rimskega pesnika Katula Vivamus atque amemus. Res škoda, da mu ni bilo dano, da bi še dlje živeli skupaj in se imeli radi.

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Erik Stålberg

Življenje Jožeta Trontlja kot kliničnega nevrofiziologa

Z mešanimi občutki stojim v prostorih Akademije pokojnega Jožeta Trontlja. Sem klinični nevrofiziolog in sem Jožeta dolga leta srečeval kot zdravnika.

Jože Trontelj je imel v svojem življenju veliko različnih vlog. Vsem nam je poznana katera med njimi, osupljivo pa je, kar je morda splošno znano, kako popolna je podoba človeka s tako številnimi obrazi. Ob tej priložnosti lahko povežemo vse te vidike v celoto; morda bo ob tem na-stala nova oseba? Nekateri izmed nas lahko potrdimo njegov velikanski prispevek k njegovi medicinski specializaciji, tj. klinični nevrofiziologiji.

Navedel bom nekaj zgodovinskih poudarkov in opozoril na nekate-re značilnosti, ki so po mojem izraz Jožetove odličnosti, ta pa presega meje med medicino in drugimi področji njegovega življenja.

Mislil je na soljudi. V Uppsalo je prišel leta 1972, da bi se seznanil z novim postopkom. Ko gredo mladi raziskovalci na nadaljnje usposablja-nje v tujino, jih pri tem ženeta bodisi zelo spodbujajoč ali jasnoviden profesor, v tem primeru profesor Milan Dimitrijević, bodisi njihova srč-na želja po učenju in širjenju lastnih obzorij. V danem primeru je šlo za srečno kombinacijo obojega. To nam pove dvoje o Trontlju in organizi-ranosti bolnišničnega laboratorija za klinično nevrofiziologijo v Ljubljani v tistem času. Prvič, da je imel dobre odnose s svojim nadrejenim in da je znal prisluhniti dobrim nasvetom. Drugič, da je imel neizmerno željo po spoznavanju novega, kar bi lahko uporabil v svojem laboratoriju, bol-nišnici in navsezadnje v svoji državi. Že zelo zgodaj je začel razmišljati o prihodnjem pomenu svojih dejanj za bolnike, študente, sodelavce in družbo. To je bila ena vodilnih misli, ki ga je spremljala vse življenje.

Pozneje mi je bilo v zadovoljstvo napisati skupaj z Jožetom nekaj knjig in številne članke. V zadovoljstvo zato, ker sem praktično ureja-

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nje, popravljanje in izboljševanje besedil dojemal kot učenje. Njegovo znanje angleščine je bilo izvrstno, tako da je s svojimi popravki vedno izboljšal še neizpiljeno besedilo. Svoje misli je izražal s karseda malo besedami. Prepričan sem, da je ravnal enako tudi na drugih področjih, ne le v medicini. Spregovoril je šele, ko je imel v glavi jasno začrtano misel. Ni tratil časa sogovornikov in vedeli smo, da ima Jože povedati kaj tehtnega, kadar govori.

Še ena Jožetova značilnost, ki se je pokazala pozneje, je bila njegova natančnost pri opažanju posebnosti, odstopanj in lepote podrobno-sti. Ko smo pregledovali posnetke obolelih mišic, je tu in tam z veliko stopnjo radovednosti opažal stvari, ki jih sami nismo opazili ali nanje nismo bili pozorni. Iz tega je pozneje lahko sklepal o pomembnih po-javih ali postopkih. Zdi se, da je to prenesel tudi na svojo dejavnost na Akademiji in na bioetiko. Bil je odprtega duha in zavedal se je marsiče-sa, kar so drugi spregledali. Znal je iskati in odkrivati stvari, ki jih drugi niso opazili. Bil je radoveden znanstvenik in znal je izvrstno opozoriti na nova odkritja.

Kakor sem že omenil, mislim, da upravičeno lahko domnevamo, da Jožetovi sodelavci večinoma niso bili seznanjeni z njegovim pomenom na področju bioetike doma in v tujini. Poznali smo ga kot zdravnika in znanstvenika. Vedno se je udeleževal naših srečanj in vsak teden obi-skoval bolnike. Bil je človek, ki je do skrajnosti in ne samo optimalno izkoristil vseh 24 ur dneva. Zakaj njegovim sodelavcem ni bila poznana ta njegova pomembna lastnost? Zato, ker je bil skromen človek z veliko integriteto, čigar vsa pozornost je veljala delu, ki ga je tisti trenutek opravljal.

Velik uspeh lahko dosežemo, če si ustvarimo krog pomočnikov. Imel je izredno sposobnost timske organizacije vsakodnevnih delovnih nalog. Njegovi pomočniki so bili številni sodelavci in večina njegovih družinskih članov na čelu s soprogo Tatjano. Naj ne omenjam, kako je skrbel za svojo družino v primeru bolezni in drugih težav. In kolikokrat so vabili domov slušatelje njegovih predavanj in s kakšnim veseljem

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je Tatjana priskočila na pomoč tako pri bolnikih kakor pri urejanju do-kumentacije. V tem zadnjem letu po njegovem odhodu Tatjana med drugim nadaljuje z delom v nevrofiziološkem laboratoriju.

Vsi se zavedamo, je imel v načrtu še veliko predavanj. Na medicin-skem področju ni težko imeti predavanja z množico prosojnic, ki preda-vatelja vodijo od ene teme k drugi. Pri pogovorih za omizjem po večerji ali ob podobnih priložnostih pa je bil preprosto odličen. Zakaj? Ker je njegov prispevek vedno vseboval pomembno sporočilo, ki ga je poda-jal s humorjem. Pravo veselje je bilo poslušati njegove prisrčne, zelo osebne nagovore gostiteljem ali prijateljem. Vemo, da je imel veliko formalnih nagovorov, ki so ganili občinstvo. S temi govori je želel vse-lej posredovati pomembna medicinska, filozofska, etična, politična ali osebna sporočila. Vedno je bil zelo dobro pripravljen, jedrnat, da ne bi dolgočasil poslušalcev, in je govoril ne samo v materinščini, temveč tudi v izvrstni angleščini.

Jože je bil blag in zadržan človek s skromno govorico telesa, vse dokler ni želel prepričati občinstva, ko je pokimal z glavo. Znal je biti tudi zelo šegav in nas je zabaval z mislimi in besedami, ne z velikimi kretnjami. Na medicinskem področju je bil priznan zaradi temeljitega poznavanja svoje specializacije in natančnega izvajanja poskusov ter načina prikazovanja postopkov. Naj omenim, na primer, prigodo, ko sva z Jožetom večerjala v istanbulski restavraciji ob Bosporju po pravkar končanem medicinskem seminarju. »Jože,« sem dejal, »v nebesih ne bova potrebovala teh posnetkov, tam so vsi zdravi.« Odgovoril mi je: »Ampak, Erik, opraviva lahko vsaj nekaj nazornih predavanj, tako kot danes.«

Jože nas je zapustil po celodnevnem delu. Podprimo njegove zami-sli, spomnimo se, česa nas je naučil o življenju, in nadaljujmo s prizade-vanji v njegovem duhu za boljši svet.

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Donald B. Sanders

Nagovor

Spoštovani gospod predsednik, cenjeni gostje, sodelavci in prijatelji,

v čast mi je, da lahko sodelujem na spominski slovesnosti svojega sodelavca in prijatelja, profesorja Jožeta Trontlja. Danes smo se zbrali, da bi počastili spomin na Jožetove dosežke na področju klinične nevro-fiziologije in biomedicinske etike ter njegovega predsedovanja Sloven-ski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti.

Tako kot profesor Stålberg sem tudi sam klinični nevrofiziolog in sem Jožeta poznal v glavnem s tega področja. Prvič sem ga srečal v Ate-nah leta 1980 na seminarju o elektromiografiji enega samega vlakna in sem dotlej imel čast z njim sodelovati na številnih podobnih seminar-jih po vsem svetu. Jože je bil eden pionirjev razvoja elektromiografije enega samega vlakna kot najobčutljivejšega kliničnega postopka za pri-kazovanje oslabljenega prenosa živčnih impulzov na mišico, ki je zna-čilen za nekatere živčno-mišične bolezni. Gre za neprecenljivo orodje pri diagnosticiranju teh bolezni, ki je bilo večinoma po Jožetovi zaslugi vključeno v rutinske klinične postopke v številnih elektrodiagnističnih laboratorijih po vsem svetu.

Posebni postopek, ki ga je Jože zagovarjal in pri obvladovanju kate-rega mu ni bilo para, sočasno vključuje spodbujanje enega samega gib-nega živca in ročno nameščanje fine snemalne elektrode zaradi ohra-njanja neposrednega stika s posameznimi živčnimi vlakni. Zavedati se je treba, da se gibi, ki so potrebni za izvedbo tega postopka, merijo z mikroni. To je zahteven postopek, ki zahteva potrpežljivost in izredno pozornost na številne, včasih medsebojno prehitevajoče se tehnične podrobnosti, ter hkrati budno spremljanje potreb obravnavanega bol-nika.

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Jože je kmalu po začetku dela na elektromiografiji enega samega vlakna skupaj s profesorjem Stålbergom ustvaril novo raziskovalno po-dročje z uporabo tehnike elektromiografije enega samega vlakna za proučevanje človekove refleksne dejavnosti, ki je bila pozneje tema njegovega doktorata na ljubljanski univerzi leta 1971. Poleg drugih prispevkov področju klinične nevrofiziologije in nevrologije je razširil proučevanje refleksne dejavnosti z vključitvijo refleksov možganskega debla in drugih sorodnih pojavov kakor so aksonski refleksi in efaptič-no vzburjenje v človeški skeletni mišici ter učinki možgansko-žilnih do-godkov na perifernih motoričnih enotah. Njegovi prispevki na to temo pomenijo klasiko v literaturi z nevro-mišičnega področja in publikacije odločilnega pomena na to temo.

Jože je dosegal ne samo meritve najvišje kakovosti, temveč je te izvajal tako, da so bile videti varljivo preproste, s čimer je postavljal vi-soka merila za vse nas. Omenim naj, da se je zdelo, da je Jože najboljši takrat, ko je bila ob njem njegova soproga Tatjana, ki mu je pomagala pri analizah. Skupaj sta bila enkraten par.

Poleti leta 2009 sva se z ženo za deset dni pridružila Stålbergovima in Trontljevima na zahodni obali Švedske zaradi dokončnega obliko-vanja besedila knjige o elektromiografiji enega samega vlakna. Takrat sem Jožeta spoznal tudi osebno in s tem tudi njegovo nadarjenost za kulinariko. Pripravil nam je gobove polpetke, h katerim so se zelo do-bro podala slovenska vina, ki jih je prinesel s sabo.

Takrat me je tudi najbolj osupnilo njegovo razumevanje fines an-gleškega jezika – pogosto je med pogovorom o najboljšem načinu opredelitve določenega pojma omahoval pri uporabi nekaterih besed in skrajno taktno predlagal alternativno različico, ki je bila vsakokrat primernejša izbira za dano sobesedilo.

Morda se zdi nenavadno, da en sam človek lahko doseže tako veliko na dveh navidezno različnih strokovnih področjih. Zato z zanimanjem proučujem povezavo med klinično nevrofiziologijo in biomedicinsko etiko, področjema, na katerih je Jože dosegel odličnost.

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Jasno je, da bi etično ravnanje moralo biti sestavina znanstvene-ga dela, pri čemer marsikdo misli, da gre za ustaljeni standard. Bilo bi prevzetno, če bi skušal opredeliti etično ravnanje v znanosti pred ob-činstvom, vsekakor pa bi moral začeti s strokovnim znanjem, natanč-nim opazovanjem in sposobnostjo utemeljenega sklepanja. Kot je dejal William Blake: »Kdor želi drugemu storiti dobro, mora to storiti zelo natančno: splošno dobro je izgovor podležev, hinavcev in laskavcev. Kajti obstoj znanosti in umetnosti je možen samo v skrajno urejenih podrobnostih.«

Profesor Stålberg je omenil Jožetovo pozornost za detajle pri izva-janju elektrodiagnostičnih raziskav, po čemer mi je ostal najbolj v spo-minu. Svojo potrpežljivost in pozornost za detajle je prelil v svoje delo na področju etike in predsedovanje Slovenski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti.

Jože je bil vedno vljuden, prijazen in pozoren do svojih kolegov in sodelavcev. Ko bi moral izbrati besedo, s katero bi lahko najbolje opisal svoje spomine na Jožeta, bi to bila beseda »ljubezniv«. Med pisanjem teh vrstic sem razmišljal o razliki v pomenu angleških besed »kind« (lju-bezniv, prijazen) in »kindly« (prijazno, dobrohotno). Obe se nanašata na Jožeta, čeprav se komajda razlikujeta po pomenu. Ta pomensko ne-znatna razlika bi mu bila zelo všeč.

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Milan R Dimitrijević

Jože Trontelj, kolega, zdravnik in raziskovalec

KolegaV prvih letih druge polovice 20. stoletja se je, z namenom vrednote-

nja strukturnih in funkcijskih sprememb živčevja pri osebah z nevrolo-škimi boleznimi, v Sloveniji v klinično nevrološko prakso začelo vpelje-vati nevroradiološke in nevrofiziološke metode. To je bil materialni in profesionalni pogoj za ustanovitev Laboratorija za klinično nevrofizio-logijo ljubljanske nevrološke klinike.

Potem ko sem se po večmesečnem izobraževanju na Karolinski nevrološki kliniki Serafimerslazarettet v Stockholmu leta 1958 vrnil v Ljubljano, me je takratni predstojnik ljubljanske nevrološke klinike pro-fesor dr. Ivan Marinčič zaprosil, da na njej organiziram laboratorij za klinično nevrofiziologijo. Na Švedskem sem se klinične nevrofiziologije učil pri profesorju dr. Eriku Kugelbergu in docentu dr. Larsu-Eriku Lars-sonu. Z ustanovitvijo laboratorija je klinična nevrofiziologija postala ena od dejavnosti ljubljanske nevrološke klinike. Zame je to najprej in predvsem pomenilo, da moram poiskati mlade zdravnike, ki bi jih zani-malo in veselilo klinično nevrološko in raziskovalno delo. Tako sem se srečal z Jožetom Trontljem in ga k sodelovanju povabil skupaj s Tine-tom Prevcem, Martinom Jankom, Milanom Gregoričem, Janezom Fa-ganelom, Janezom Zidarjem, Jožetom Lokarjem in drugimi. Med kolegi in učitelji je Jože veljal za nadarjenega in dobro izobraženega mladega zdravnika. Na naših popoldanskih ponedeljkovih sestankih je pogosto sprožal pogovore o tehničnih in strokovnih problemih klinične nevro-fiziologije. Pri iskanju rešitev je bil vztrajen. Dobro se spominjam, kako zavzet je bil pri izbiranju najboljšega ob nabavi opreme. Ob enem takih dogodkov je po dolgi debati njegov glas postal šibek. Za kratek čas je zapustil sobo. Vrnil se je z zvočnikom in mikrofonom in tako nadaljeval

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prepričevanje kolegov o prednosti enega ali drugega instrumenta za program inštituta.

Zdravnik Skupaj smo začeli snemati elektroencefalograme, kar je bilo tedaj

kar nekako modno. Jože si je vedno vzel čas, da je kolegom, ki s to metodo niso bili dobro seznanjeni, pojasnjeval njen izvor in klinični po-men. Tu in tam je prišel v mojo pisarno in potožil, kako mu ni uspelo prepričati kakšnega kolega, da se elektroencefalografije ne more upo-rabiti za snemanje npr. elektrohepatograma. Začeli smo tudi z elektro-miografijo, ki pomaga anatomsko in fiziološko opredeliti bolezni pe-rifernega živčevja. Delo je zahtevalo nov profil nevrologa. Takšne pa je bilo potrebno šele izobraziti. Začeli smo vabiti mlade zdravnike in jim pojasnjevati klinično nevrofiziološko prakso. Eden od teh je bil Jože Trontelj. Ko sem ga srečal prvič, je delal kot splošni zdravnik v Ljublja-ni. Presenetljivo pa je že ob prvem srečanju pokazal dober vpogled v takratno nevrofiziološko opremo in metode dela. Kar takoj sva bila do-govorjena, da se bo pridružil nastajajočemu programu izobraževanja klinične nevrologije s poudarkom na klinični nevrofiziologiji. Pozneje, ko je že bil sodelavec Laboratorija za klinično nevrofiziologijo, sem ga ob neki priložnosti vprašal, kako da se je tako hitro odločil za klinično nevrofiziologijo. Zaupal mi je, da sta ga biologija in fiziologija vedno zanimali, povrhu pa je od svojih bratov, elektroinženirjev, izvedel, da je naš laboratorij, v primerjavi z nekaterimi laboratoriji na Fakulteti za elektrotehniko, mnogo bolje opremljen.

Značilno za Jožeta je bilo, da je znal klinične najdbe dopolniti s kli-ničnimi nevrofiziološkimi. Z integracijo obeh se je potem lahko lažje od-ločil za optimalni način zdravljenja. Primer tega je uporaba toničnega vibracijskega refleksa za modifikacijo bolečine po poškodbi perifernega živčevja. Na ta način je preveril veljavnost takrat nove teorije o zaznavi bolečine, tako imenovane »teorije vrat«. Teorija pojasnjuje nevropat-sko bolečino, to je bolečino, ki nastane zaradi okvare živčnih struktur,

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ki prevajajo bolečinske živčne impulze. To je bil v Sloveniji eden prvih poskusov zunanje kontrole kronične bolečine, osnovan na nevrofizio-loških temeljih. Drugi tak primer je zdravljenje miastenije gravis, kjer je Jože uspešno uporabil posebno elektromiografsko metodo, ki meri uspešnost prevajanja na stiku med živcem in mišico. Prevajanje je v bolezenskih primerih moteno, da pa se ga popraviti ali normalizirati s farmakološkimi intervencijami. Jože je bil zdravnik, ki je uspešno upo-rabljal neinvazivne nevrofiziološke metode za ocenjevanje sprememb v senzorično-motoričnih funkcijah človeka. Poleg tega je bistroumno uporabil tehniko analize odzivov posamičnih motoričnih enot na raz-lično refleksno draženje. Tako je pripomogel k izboljšanju diagnostič-nih postopkov in k dinamičnemu spremljanju funkcijskih stanj živčev-ja v bolezni. Pa naj povem še osebno izkušnjo z Jožetom zdravnikom. Neko nedeljo, ko sva bila skupaj na delu v houstonski bolnišnici, so me ogrizle strupene rdeče mravlje. Začel se je razvijati anafilaktični šok. Ko sem ponovno lažje zadihal, je bil ob meni Jože s prazno injekcijsko brizgalko. Še danes ne vem, kako mu je v tako kratkem času in v tujem okolju uspelo dobiti, kar je potreboval za mojo ozdravitev.

RaziskovalecV času, ko se je Jože v takratnem ljubljanskem Laboratoriju za klinič-

no nevrofiziologijo in pozneje na Inštitutu za klinično nevrofiziologijo izobraževal za kliničnega nevrofiziologa, je bila za inštituciji osrednja raziskovalna tema spastičnost bolnikov s kronično prečno poškodbo hrbtenjače. Raziskave so potekale v sodelovanju z doktorjem Petrom W. Nathanom z Inštituta za nevrologijo londonske bolnišnice Queen Square in s profesorjem doktorjem Larsom-Erikom Larssonom z Oddel-ka za klinično nevrofiziologijo v Linköpingu na Švedskem. Naključje je hotelo, da je bil profesor Larsson, s katerim smo sodelovali pri razvoju novih elektrofizioloških metod, recenzent pri zagovoru doktorskih del Jana Ekstedta in Erika Stålberga. Zato nas je že leta 1964 opozoril na to novo nevrofiziološko metodo, ki smo jo po slovensko poimenovali

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mikroelektromiografija ali elektromiografija posamičnih mišičnih vla-ken. Avgusta naslednje leto je Jože že obiskal Erika Stålberga in se v njegovem laboratoriju v Uppsali seznanil s to metodo. Po vrnitvi v Lju-bljano jo je najprej uporabljal v diagnostični obravnavi bolnikov s su-mom na miastenijo gravis. Postopoma je začel še z merjenjem drugih elektrofizioloških parametrov, kot so gostota mišičnih vlaken, meritve hitrosti prevajanja v njih in drugih. S tem je prišel do novih dognanj, ki so prispevala k razumevanju patofiziologije mišičnih distrofij, mio-tonij, idiopatske skolioze, hemiplegije po možganski kapi in drugega. Z velikim veseljem se spominjam najinih rednih sobotnih sestankov, ko sva načenjala pogovore o raziskavah refleksnih odzivov posamičnih motoričnih enot. To njegovo poznejše delo je gotovo med Jožetovimi najpomembnejšimi prispevki h klinični nevrofiziologiji.

Skratka, srečanje Jožeta z Erikom v Uppsali leta 1964 je sprožilo pov-sem novo ustvarjalno pot v elektofiziologiji motorične enote in v pato-fiziologiji živčno-mišičnih bolezni. Omenimo še to, da se je Eriku in Jo-žetu po večletnem sodelovanju pridružil še Don Sanders. Ti trije kliniki in raziskovalci so svoje dosežke dokumentirali v popularni monografiji o mikroelektromiografiji, ki je doživela tri izdaje.

Nekaj tednov pred nepričakovano smrtjo sva se srečala v njegovi pisarni na SAZU in izmenjala nekaj besed. Na vprašanje o najpomemb-nejši trenutni delovni usmeritvi mi je odgovoril, da je to etika, in to ne le medicinska. Že po njegovi smrti sem razmišljal o tem, kako velik je bil Jožetov prispevek tudi na tem področju.

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Janez Zidar

Jože Trontelj – dolgoletni sodelavec Inštituta za klinično nevrofiziologijo Kliničnega centra v Ljubljani

Akademika, profesorja nevrologije, kliničnega nevrofiziologa in eti-ka Jožeta Trontlja bi se rad spomnil kot njegov sodelavec in v imenu drugih zaposlenih z ljubljanskega Inštituta za klinično nevrofiziologijo. Na inštitutu je prebil več kot normalno delovno dobo. Za mnoge od nas je bil seveda samo Jože – blag in uglajen ter dobrohoten in celo udvor-ljiv človek. Za določene ljudi pravijo, da k nekaterim obračajo glave, k drugim pa hrbet. Če česa ni, kar Jože ni nikdar napravil, je, da bi ljudem obrnil hrbet. Vedno je bil pripravljen pomagati, in to vsakomur, ne gle-

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de na njegov poklic ali položaj v družbi. Nekaj malega vem o tem, kako je skrbel za sovaščane. Sam je bil njihov zdravnik in svetovalec. Če pa se v čem ni čutil dovolj dobrega strokovnjaka, je za nasvete spraševal druge zdravnike ali pa jih poprosil, da sovaščane tudi pregledajo. Na neko podobno dobro Jožetovo lastnost bom opozoril tudi, če rečem, da ima šivanka v primerjavi z buciko namesto glave uho. Znal je prisluhniti drugim in svetovati.

Jože je imel na Inštitutu majhno sobico, veliko le nekaj kvadratnih metrov, pa še to si je pogosto s kom delil. Tu je mnogokrat delal še te-daj, ko je že bil predsednik Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti. V njej je sprejemal tudi goste, če jih le ni bilo več hkrati, ker sta kolikor toliko udobno lahko v njej sedela le dva, za silo tudi trije. Je že moralo biti kaj, zaradi česar je ni hotel zapustiti, niti ko smo mu ponudili nekaj večjo pisarno. Enkrat samkrat sem ga obiskal v njegovi veliki in udobni pisarni na Akademiji. Zdel se mi je kar nekoliko izgubljen v ogromnem prostoru ali pa je bila taka le moja zaznava. Imel sem občutek, da si je izza knjig na veliki pisalni mizi, ki jih je imel naložene tako visoko, da je, če je sedel, komaj videl čeznje, sezidal majhno izbico, ki je bila podobna inštitutski.

Jože je vedno znal biti duhovit in šaljiv pisec in govorec. Tudi v tem je, kot v vsem drugem, besede sukal previdno in odmerjeno in ni nikoli zdrknil v burkaštvo ali norčevanje. Zelo očitno je ob tem tudi užival. Govoril je z glavo, lahno nagnjeno vstran, s hudomušnim in otroško razigranim nasmehom na obrazu, poudarke so spremljali gibi rok, glas pa je bil vedno nekoliko pretih. Zaradi njegovega veselja do dovtipov, kadar jih je izrekal in ko jih je poslušal, sem prepričan, da bi mi prej zameril kot ne, če tega v tem zapisu o njem ne bi vsaj poskusil tudi jaz.

Šele ko sem ob tem pisanju razmišljal o Jožetu, sem se dodobra ove-del, da premalo vem že o njegovih »zrelih rečeh«, kaj šele o njegovih »otroških stvareh« (po Lojzetu Kovačiču). Zato bom svojo pripoved za-čel s časom, ko sva se spoznala. Nisem še bil sprejet v službo na inštitut, ko naju je dva, »komaj rojena« zdravnika, povabil s seboj v Uppsalo na

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prvi znanstveni sestanek o mikroelektromiografiji, in le malo pozneje sva že pomagala pri organizaciji drugega takega srečanja, ki ga je go-stil Jože v Ljubljani. Takrat sva bila že demonstratorja elektrofiziološke metode mikroelektromiografije. Srečanj so se udeležili strokovnjaki iz različnih delov sveta. Dobro se spominjam, da so naju, zelenca, spre-jeli v svojo družbo kot njim enaka. Tudi Jožetova zasluga je, da se je to zgodilo. Skupaj sva pozneje na podobno temo organizirala še nekaj mednarodnih srečanj v Ljubljani.

Spominjam se, da smo se na poti v Uppsalo odpravili na letališče v Zagreb z njegovim avtom austin maxi in kako se je tega avta Jože takrat veselil. Treba pa je vedeti, kakšni časi so bili takrat oziroma so komajda minili. Ljudje smo za nakup avtomobilskih gum tedaj na mrazu čakali v vrsti vse od popoldneva do naslednjega jutra. Če je kdo hotel kupiti štiri, kar je nekaj normalnega, je moral za stanje v vrsti prositi še tri pri-jatelje, ker je imel vsak pravico do nakupa le ene. O njegovih šoferskih sposobnostih pa lahko povem zgodbico, ki sem jo slišal od drugih. Med obiskom njegovega najtesnejšega nevrofiziološkega sodelavca Erika Stålberga v Ljubljani sta med vožnjo v že omenjenem avtu živahno raz-pravljala o elektrofizioloških temah. Jože se je kot šofer tako vživel v debato, da pred semaforjem ob zeleni luči ni speljal. Ni jasno, ali je celo zamudil ves čas svetenja zelene luči in čakal še pred naslednjo rdečo. Znano je le, da je Erik po daljšem času nežno dejal: »Jože, it will never be greener than this!«

Če kdo, potem je bil Jože gotovo tisti, zaradi katerega je bila slo-venska klinična nevrofiziologija znana tudi drugod v svetu. Jože je bil mojster koničastega in tudi bodečega orodja – mikroelektromiograf-ske igle. Prvi od učencev je bil, ki je v Uppsali obiskal Erika Stålberga samo leto dni zatem, ko je ta zagovarjal svoje doktorsko delo s področja mikroelektromiografije, in tri leta zatem, ko je odjemanje potencialov posamičnih mišičnih vlaken pri človeku prvi opisal Jan Ekstedt. Jože je rabo mikroelektromiografije razširil na povsem nova znanstvena po-dročja. Bil je odličen opazovalec in še boljši razlagalec mnogih fiziolo-

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ških in patofizioloških dogajanj v človeškem živčevju in mišicah. Pri tem je bila njegova misel tako ostra kot igla, s katero je zbadal.

Glava se pozna po jeziku – še en pregovor, ki se ga pri misli na Jožeta splača spomniti. Še bolj kot rabo igle je Jože namreč izmojstril rabo dru-gega koničastega in zašiljenega orodja – peresa. Obvladanje tega pa ni povsem brez povezave z znanostjo. Nova opažanja zahtevajo, da se jih ustrezno ubesedi. Šele tako postanejo dostopna in razumljiva drugim. Objavljal je v glavnem s področja elektromiografije (preiskave funkcij živčnomišičnega stika, refleksologija, patološka spontana aktivnost). Med pomembnejše dosežke s tega področja gotovo sodijo tri izdaje knjige o mikroelektromiografiji, katerih soavtor je. Kot nevrolog pa je pisal še o bolečini, komi in možganski smrti.

Še kako prav pa je veščina govorjene in pisane besede prišla prav Jo-žetu kot humanistu etiku. Živimo v shizofrenem času, ko je javno govor-jenje in pisanje mnogokrat zlorabljeno. Številni govorijo, da bi resnico zakrili, in ne odkrili, ali pa preprosto zato, da bi preglasili druge. Jože je bil temu pravo nasprotje. Zato je njegova smrt v tem času toliko večja tragedija. Govoril je, ker je imel kaj povedati in kadar je imel kaj pove-dati. Če sem že rekel, da je bil mojster bodečega orodja in da je bila ostra tudi njegova misel, se moram tu nekoliko popraviti. Z iglo je pač moral bosti. S peresom in mislijo pa ni zbadal. Bil je kar se da obziren, takten in spoštljiv govorec in pisec in kot tak zgled vsem.

Ena od funkcij, s katero se je poosebil in jo srčno in dovršeno dol-go časa opravljal, je bilo vodenje »projekta Kuvajt«. Ljubljanski Klinični center je leta 1978 obiskala kuvajtska delegacija z nalogo, da izbere nekaj oddelkov in ljudi, ki bi pomagali razvijati tamkajšnjo medicino. Ob drugih so izbrali tudi Jožeta in klinično nevrofiziologijo. Program je bil začet leta 1979. Od tam je, po vdoru iraške vojske, moral tudi bežati. Za mnoge od nas je bil kuvajtski program prilika za dodaten zaslužek, za večino nova življenjska izkušnja, za Jožeta pa več. Lahko da je bil ta več tudi to, da si je tam, ali pa prav zaradi kuvajtskega programa, ustvaril družino. Skupaj je v Kuvajtu, v več kot 20 obiskih, prebil skoraj pet let.

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Moram še povedati, da je bil Jože, ne sam, ampak skupaj s svo-jo družino, ne le dober, temveč izjemen gostitelj. Zagotovo ima vsak inštitutski član lepe spomine na sijajne gostije pri njem doma, nava-dno ob rojstnem dnevu, ob kakem drugem praznovanju ali kar brez posebnega povoda. Zaradi njegove ljubeznivosti smo inštitutski sode-lavci včasih zanj pripravili kakšno presenečenje ali pa je kdo ob takih priložnostih spregovoril. Najbrž je na tem mestu treba povedati, da je bil Jože nekaj časa strasten ribič, celo življenje pa ljubitelj rib. Na eni od pojedin smo Jožetu med drugim postavili uganko, ko smo morski ribi nadeli glavo sladkovodne, sladkovodni pa morske ribe. V dneh pred gostijo se je v okviru specializacije iz plastične kirurgije pri nas izobra-ževala kolegica. Na tržnici smo kupili kar se da podobni ribi – eno mor-sko in drugo sladkovodno. Specializantka plastične kirurgije je ribama najprej odstranila glavi in ju pod mikroskopom prišila nasprotnima trupoma. Vprašanje za Jožeta je bilo, kaj je pri ribah nenavadnega. Za naše oči je mikrokirurški poseg odlično uspel. Za ribiške pač ne. Jože in njegov sin, tudi ribič, sta uganko kar hitro razvozlala, čeprav smo upali, da je ne bosta.

Nekaj let pozneje, točneje leta 2008, je pri menjavi glav sodeloval Jože sam, in to dobesedno, s svojo glavo. Postal je glava SAZU in s tem nadomestil prejšnjo. Kot moder mož je Jože dobro vedel, kaj vse se lah-ko zgodi z glavo, če se izpostavi na take vrhove. Pa je takrat, kar ne velja za nekatere druge priložnosti, v to privolil. Morda je presodil, da bo z akademiki, ki vendarle niso brez glav in znajo upoštevati reklo »več glav več ve«, lepo sodeloval. Sicer pa se Jože zaradi funkcije, kot tudi poprej ob številnih nagradah, ni prevzel. Ostal je zmeren in preprost kot prej. Dobro se je zavedal dejstva, da »visoko glavo nosi prazen klas«.

Je pa med predsednikovanjem Akademiji (gotovo tudi zaradi števil-nih drugih obveznosti) postajal vidno utrujen in počasen ter je o tem včasih tudi potarnal. To smo poskušali včasih obrniti na šalo z besedami »edina brezskrbna glava je glava ptičjega strašila«. Morda bi mu bilo lažje, če bi številne naloge in skrbi znal deliti z drugimi.

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Jože je v vsem stremel k popolnosti. Takšen je bil kot sodelavec, gostitelj, zdravnik in raziskovalec. Prav posebej, se mi zdi, pa si je k dovršenosti prizadeval s svojim pisanjem. Pa ne mislim le na pisanje znanstvenih člankov ali številnih tekstov o bioetiki. Vsak dopis je želel napisati in ga tudi je napisal sam. Tajnice ni imel niti je ni potreboval. In dopisov ni bilo malo. Samo kot predsednik državne Komisije za medi-cinsko etiko je mesečno napisal do 200 odgovorov na dopise KME, od tega do 70 mnenj o etični primernosti raziskav. Ob tem pa to še zdaleč ni bilo vse, kar je kot predsednik te komisije počel in kar je moral napi-sati v svojih drugih pomembnih funkcijah.

Ne vem, ali imam prav ali ne. Morda je prav zaradi težnje k popolni izdelanosti in izoblikovanosti premalo zaupal drugim oz. le redkim in izbranim. Nemara malo pretiravam, ampak ob številnih prijateljih kli-ničnih nevrofiziologih z vsega sveta jih je le malo, za katere bi se zares dalo reči, da so bili njegovi učenci.

Jože je svojo že sicer odlično angleščino dodatno pilil v prostem času na ribarjenjih ob Gradaščici in Ljubljanici. Tem se je namreč po-gosto pridružil tudi njegov škotski prijatelj Alistair McKinon. Ob meta-nju trnkov sta secirala angleško slovnico in pomen posamičnih besed. Rezultat tega je bila Jožetova brezhibna angleščina. To zagotovo velja za angleško pisanje. Angleško pa je, tako kot slovensko, govoril počasi in s premori, skrbno iskaje izraze, s katerimi bi svojo misel najbolje po-vedal. Površnemu in nezbranemu poslušalcu je to lahko dalo napačen vtis, da jezika ne obvlada. Ljudski glas ve za kirurga, ki je Jožetovemu prijatelju ob neki priložnosti zaskrbljeno zaupal: »Jožetu pa angleščina ne gre najbolje?!«

Jože nam ni zapustil le stotine in stotine napisanih strani. Mimogre-de, tudi nas je spodbujal, da čim več pišemo, ker s tem mojstrimo tudi svojo sposobnost razmišljanja. Vplival je tudi z govorom in ne nazadnje s svojim zgledom. Upam, da je/bo kaj od tega padlo na plodna tla. Hva-ležni smo mu za druženje.

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Božidar Voljč

Nekaj spominov na Jožeta Trontlja

Z Jožetom Trontljem sva bila na neki način povezana, še preden sva se rodila. Najini starši so se kot mladi zakonci poznali in se občasno družili. Poklicna pot je pozneje oba očeta peljala v različne smeri in stiki med njimi so zamrli. Mama pa mi jih je večkrat omenila, če je pogovor nanesel na Jožeta. Ni pa to imelo nobenega vpliva na najino poznejše poznanstvo.

Moji prvi spomini nanj segajo na nekdanjo Klasično gimnazijo v Lju-bljani, kjer smo preživeli osem let, od otroških enajst do mature pri osemnajstih, ko smo pridobili »zrelost in sposobnost za študij na viso-kih šolah«, kakor je pisalo v maturitetnem spričevalu, s katerim smo šli vsak svoji usodi naproti. Jože je bil eno leto za menoj, zato se ne mo-rem spomniti, kdaj sem postal pozoren nanj. Na gimnaziji ni bilo veliko odličnjakov, kdor je bil, se je zanj vedelo, za Jožeta še posebej. Drugače je bil miren, vljuden fant, kakršnega sem tudi kasneje ves čas poznal. Kot gimnazijec ni užival ugleda le med dijaštvom, ampak so ga – tako se mi je zdelo – spoštovali tudi profesorji, ki so v njem lahko videli bodo-čega vrhunskega slovenskega izobraženca. Ker sem bil tako po disciplini kot po ocenah vse prej kot vzoren dijak, pa tudi ker je bil mlajši, se nisva družila. Poznala sva se le kot »klasika«, kakor so nam rekli drugi gim-nazijci in kakor smo se tudi sami imenovali. No, Jožetu kot odličnjaku mature zagotovo ni bilo treba opravljati, zrelost in sposobnost študija na visokih šolah si je pridobil že s svojimi ocenami.

Vse to se je spremenilo, ko sem se po enem letu gozdarstva vpisal na medicino. Ko sem med kolegi zagledal Jožeta, mi je bilo jasno, da bo študij zagotovo uspešno zaključil, v kar pa za sebe nisem bil prepri-čan. V vsakem študiju, v medicini še posebej, je kar precej izpada in po gozdarstvu me je upravičeno skrbelo, kako bo z menoj. Ker sta najina

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priimka s konca abecede, sva se pri vajah vedno znašla v isti skupini, tudi pri anatomiji ob isti secirni mizi. Pri dolgih popoldanskih seciranjih sva ob latinski nomenklaturi tkiv in organov med pogovori priložnostno zašla še v latinščino in grščino, ki sva jo prinesla iz gimnazije. Tu sva se hitro ujela in se še pozneje, pravzaprav vse do konca, v pogovorih rada vračala med oba klasična jezika. Pri tem je neredko omenil kakšno podrobnost, ki je presegala gimnazijsko znanje in mi je dala vedeti, da je svoje znanje bogatil še z drugimi viri. Lahko rečem, da je bila kla-sična izobrazba eden od temeljev najinega dolgoletnega poznanstva in medsebojnega odnosa. Še lani sva v predsedniški sobi Akademije razpravljala o tem, kako da je Cicero, ki je bil v senatu znan po ostrem jeziku in zajedljivih pripombah, svoj znani esej o starosti, Cato Maior de senectute, pisal v tako blagem jeziku in kako da si je za govorca izbral ravno Katona, ki ga je bila vse drugo prej kot ena sama blagost. V takih razgovorih me je Jože vedno znova presenečal z znanjem obeh jezikov, kar je v mojih očeh nekako sodilo k njegovemu odličnemu medicinske-mu znanju. Očitno je bilo, da je v gimnaziji in na medicini znanje vpijal veliko globlje od povprečja, sicer si ne bi mogel tistega, kar se je naučil, tako dolgo in tako dobro zapomniti.

Po končanem študiju sta se najini poti za nekaj let razšli. Jože je šel hitro v specializacijo, jaz pa sem začel svojo medicino graditi na deže-li, kjer sem ostal dvajset let in sem pa tja za kakega pacienta prebral tudi Jožetov izvid. Tako bi najbrž tudi ostalo, če ne bi jaz objavil nekaj člankov v Ribiču, reviji za ribolov. Ne vem več prav dobro, kdaj in kako sva prišla skupaj kot ribiča, vem le, da se je to zgodilo zaradi člankov. Še danes pa mi ni jasno, kako da ribolova nisva nikoli omenila med po-govori v najinih študijskih letih. To je zelo nenavadno, a tako je bilo. Ko pa sva le prišla do ribolova, so poleg latinščine in grščine najin odnos začele oblikovati še ribe. Nekomu, ki rib ni nikoli lovil, je težko razumeti, kako globoke stike so ribe sposobne stkati med ljudmi. Vendar ne vsaka riba na enak način. Čeprav sva oba lovila postrvi, ščuke, sulce, klene, podusti in še kaj, je na najino ribiško razmerje najbolj vplival lipan, ta

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elegantni, gosposki ribji izbirčnež, ki se s tokovi slovenskih alpskih in kraških voda igra v njihovih najlepših predelih. V spominu se mi pona-vljajo slike skupnih lipanskih lovov na Kolpi, Gradaščici in Sori, pa tudi na tistega, ko je šla zraven še gospa Tatjana in smo z mojimi avstrijskimi prijatelji še mladi muharili na prav tako mladi Dravi, tam nekje visoko nad Špitalom.

Nato je prišel čas, ko smo z velikimi pričakovanji in domovinskostjo oblikovali samostojno Slovenijo. Sprememb v zdravstvu ni bilo mogo-če uresničevati brez naših najboljših strokovnjakov. Z Jožetom sva se začela srečevati ob odgovornih nalogah, pri katerih smo zdravništvo povezovali s socialnimi občutki, ki so nam jih privzgojili naši odlični gi-mnazijski in fakultetni učitelji. Med pomembne naloge je sodilo tudi utrjevanje ugleda mlade države in njenega zdravstva v mednarodnih okoljih. Pazili smo, da smo take naloge vedno zaupali strokovnjakom, ki so bili sposobni na tujem Slovenijo tako po strokovni plati kot s tujeje-zično elokventnostjo predstavljati na najvišji ravni. V tem pogledu je bil Jože v vseh ozirih zanesljiv sodelavec, pri katerem je dogovor pomenil tudi uspešno uresničenje zaupane naloge. Ko je bilo treba imenovati novega predsednika Komisije za medicinsko etiko, za to nalogo tako po človeški kot po strokovni plati razen njega nismo imeli bolj primernega strokovnjaka. Naporno in odgovorno nalogo je uspešno izpolnjeval sko-raj poldrugo desetletje, vse do svoje prezgodnje smrti. Njegov mandat sodi med najdaljše, če ni sploh najdaljši v Sloveniji doslej. Na področju medicinske etike uživa Slovenija v evropskih krogih po njegovi zaslugi velik ugled, Jože pa je postal eden njenih najodličnejših predstavnikov tudi v evropskem merilu.

Kmalu potem ko sem zaključil z delom na Ministrstvu za zdravstvo, me je Jože povabil med člane komisije. S tem se je začelo najino najin-tenzivnejše in najdaljše sodelovanje. Zdi se mi potrebno povedati, da je Komisija za medicinsko etiko s svojimi stališči, ki jih je Jože pomemb-no oblikoval, ena redkih državnih inštitucij, ki ji je uspelo svoj ugled ohraniti v zahtevnem, medijsko nestrpnem in politično popadljivem

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slovenskem okolju. Ni bilo vedno lahko, določeni mediji in javnosti niso dobro sprejeli nekaterih stališč komisije. Vendar komisija doslej ni spre-menila ali popravljala še nobenega stališča in tudi čas ni še nobenega ovrgel. Jože je njena stališča vedno znal razumljivo utemeljiti na svoj umirjeni način. Izhajal je iz trdnih moralnih načel, ki odločajo o etično-sti vsakega ravnanja in ne dopuščajo razlagalnih zvijač. Kot predsednik komisije je imel popolno zaupanje vseh članov, ki ga je ves čas vzdrže-val z vrednotami in modrostjo. Z njim je slovenska družba izgubila ne le mednarodno priznanega nevrofiziologa in predsednika Akademije, ampak nesporno avtoriteto na področju biomedicinske etike, ki jo bo zelo težko nadomestiti. Že večkrat smo ponovno in pozorno prebrali stališča, ki jih je oblikoval v imenu komisije in ki predstavljajo vzorec etičnega biomedicinskega razmišljanja, sklepanja in ravnanja. Zapustil nam je zahtevno dediščino, in dolžnost članov komisije je, da ji sledimo po svojih najboljših močeh.

V našem življenju je veliko sopotnikov in dalj ko živimo, več jih je, ki so vanj na tak ali drugačen način vstopili za krajši ali daljši čas. Nekateri pa nas spremljajo vse življenje in ni jih prav veliko. V večeru našega življenja pride čas, ko se poslovi zdaj ta, zdaj oni. Za vsakim ostane ne-kakšna zaključenost, dorečenost, novih srečanj ni več, stvari pa tečejo naprej, reka časa, pravijo, vse prelije. Za tiste, ki smo v letih, ki se jim reče starost, pa je to drugače. Za nova prava prijateljstva ni več časa, saj se jih povečini z različnimi preizkušnjami gradi in utrjuje od mladih let naprej. In tako ostajajo za njimi, ki so odšli, v prostoru in času okrog nas praznine, ob katerih si človek sebično zaželi, da ne bi odšel zadnji. Kar ostane, so spomini, zgodbe, morda vprašanje, kako bi pa Jože ravnal v takem primeru? In spoznanje, da lipanov, ki bi jih lahko z Jožetom še skupaj ujela, ni več.

Hvala, da ste me poslušali.

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Janek Musek

Etika in vrednote za prihodnost

Akademik prof. dr. Jože Trontelj je v eni osebi utelešal svetovno pomembne znanstvene dosežke in človeško veličino, najvišji intelek-tualni domet in plemenito dobroto, neomajno delavnost in predanost družini, strokovno odličnost in širino modrosti, najvišje strokovne, po-klicne, družbene funkcije in veliko osebno skromnost, svetovljanstvo in domoljubje, vrhunsko strokovno zavzetost za etiko, medicinsko etiko in bioetiko in uresničevanje etičnih, moralnih in vrednotnih idealov v osebnem življenju. S svojo osebnostjo in delom je na enkraten in samo zanj značilen način združeval znanstveno erudicijo, etiko in najvišje vre-dnote na poti do resnice in dobrote. Slovenska Akademija znanosti in umetnosti, cvet slovenske duhovne elite, si lahko šteje v čast, da je imela za predsednika takšno osebnost. Še kako in hvaležno pa si šte-jemo njegovo navzočnost in podporo v čast člani in sodelavci Inštituta za etiko, preimenovanega v Inštitut za etiko in vrednote Jože Trontelj, ustanove, ki je bila z imenom Inštitut za preučevanje etike in vrednot (IEV) ustanovljena po njegovi zaslugi in je delovala pod njegovim pred-sedstvom do nenadnega in bolečega odhoda. Zdaj deluje pod njego-vim imenom kot samostojna ustanova.

Poleg svetovno pomembnih izsledkov svojega znanstvenega dela je akad. Jože Trontelj zapustil impozantno, skoraj neverjetno zapuščino javnega delovanja na številnih drugih področjih. Seveda je pri tem tre-ba ponovno omeniti njegovo dolgoletno delovanje v SAZU in v Komisiji RS za medicinsko etiko. O tem je govor v drugih prispevkih. Sam pa naj se vendarle še ustavim prav ob njegovem širokem delu na področju etike, vrednot in morale, ki je zajelo posebno v zadnjih dveh desetletjih nepredstavljiv obseg: impozantno je že število, še bolj pa je impresivna vsebinska globina skrbno pripravljenih besedil za mnoge pomembne

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priložnosti. V to množico sodi stotine pisnih besedil, člankov, preda-vanj, govorov, nagovorov, intervjujev in drugih medijskih prispevkov.

Nesporno avtoriteto, svoje veliko človeško, strokovno in znanstveno bogastvo je akad. Jože Trontelj resnično vse bolj posvečal tudi širšim vprašanjem etike, vrednot in morale v naši in v svetovni družbi. Po-sebno v zadnjih letih svojega delovanja je vse bolj poudarjal potrebo po etičnem poglabljanju in utrjevanju slovenske družbe in družbe na-sploh. Tudi na tej poti je ob ne vedno iskreni podpori in odobravanju širših družbenih dejavnikov vendarle naletel na podobno misleče v Sloveniji, v SAZU in pri mnogih, tudi najbolj uveljavljenih in uglednih strokovnjakih po svetu.

Lahko se je oprl na skupno spoznanje, da je razhajanje med etičnimi standardi in vrednotami na eni strani ter dejanskim ravnanjem posa-meznikov in skupin na drugi strani pri nas in v sodobnem svetu doseglo in preseglo kritično mejo in da je to stanje treba spremeniti. Stabilne družbe brez znanja in zlasti brez visokih etičnih standardov in vrednot si namreč ne moremo predstavljati, saj vsi najhujši negativni pojavi, ki tarejo človeštvo, izhajajo iz omenjenega razkoraka med vrednotami in aktualnim ravnanjem: od nasilja in vojn do korupcije in kriminala, od neznanja in izkoriščanja do lakote in revščine. V tej luči je akad. Jože Trontelj videl tudi potrebo po dejavnem prispevku najvišjih duhovnih ustanov pri nas in po svetu k oblikovanju stabilne družbe prihodno-sti, ki mora biti družba vrednot in družba znanja in s tem tudi družba modrosti in blagostanja. V vlogi predsednika SAZU se je zato osebno in strokovno zavzel za ustanovitev Inštituta za etiko (IEV), ki mu je od nastanka tudi predsedoval vse do prezgodnje smrti.

Ob vsestranskih pobudah in podpori akad. Jožeta Trontlja je bil tako temeljito premišljen in uveljavljen tudi celoviti program dela Inštitu-ta za etiko in vrednote. Za izhod iz moralne krize sodobnega sveta ni ključno le poznavanje etičnih standardov in vrednot, temveč predvsem oblikovanje trdne odločenosti posameznika, oblikovanje njegovih ve-denjskih namer, da ravna v skladu z etičnimi standardi in vrednotami.

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Gre za oblikovanje etičnih vedenjskih namer, kar je izjemno pomembna predstopnja v etičnem, moralnem in vrednotnem razvoju posamezni-ka. Osnove za etično ravnanje se pridobijo v zgodnjem razvoju, deloma že v predšolskem obdobju s spodbujanjem empatije, občutja pravično-sti, čuta za sočloveka in pripravljenosti pomagati. Tovrstne spodbude v tem zgodnjem obdobju ne smejo biti zamujene in zato je izjemno pomembno skrbeti in krepiti etično in vrednotno vzgojo že pri zgodnji vzgoji in izobraževanju.

Zato si je akad. Jože Trontelj še posebej prizadeval za okrepljeno integracijo vrednot in etičnih standardov v vzgoji in izobraževanju in za večjo pomoč ter podporo vzgojiteljem in učiteljem pri izpolnjevanju njihovega vzgojnega poslanstva. Poudarjal je, da gre za poslanstvo, ki predpostavlja visoke etične standarde in vrednotno zavest. V vzgoji-teljih in učiteljih od vrtca do univerz je videl pomembne nosilce ideje, da bi z večjo integracijo etičnih standardov in vrednot v vzgojo in izo-braževanje ustvarjali pogoje za dolgoročen prehod sodobne družbe v stabilno družbo znanja in vrednot, družbo blagostanja, sreče in mo-drosti. Ta ideja je prav po njegovi zaslugi prerasla v družbeni projekt, ki naj bi ga uresničevali in udejanjali pri nas, v Sloveniji, pa tudi širše prek evropskih in svetovnih povezav in institucij, v katerih je akademik prof. dr. Jože Trontelj iniciativno, ustvarjalno in z velikim ugledom sodeloval. Njegova ocena je bila, da gre za idejo in projekt, ki zasluži ne samo vsestranski posluh naše in širše družbe, ampak tudi izrecno in konkre-tno angažiranje vrhunskih duhovnih, umskih in moralnih potencialov sodobnega sveta.

Uresničevanje prizadevanj na področju etičnih standardov in vre-dnot v vzgoji in izobraževanju je akad. prof. dr. Jože Trontelj upravičeno povezal s samim bistvom vzgojiteljskega in učiteljskega poslanstva in v teh prizadevanjih je tudi upravičeno videl temelj za vračanje in poveče-vanje ugleda vzgojiteljskega in učiteljskega dela v naši družbi, ki temu pomembnemu stebru lastne moči in zrelosti že nekaj časa ni posvečala zadostne pozornosti. In prav na področju umeščanja vrednot v vzgojo

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in izobraževanje je akad. prof. dr. Jože Trontelj s SAZU, Inštitutom za etiko in vrednote in pod pokroviteljstvom ter s podporo predsedstva Republike Slovenije organiziral septembra 2013 na Brdu pri Kranju ve-liko konferenco vodstev vrtcev in osnovnih šol Slovenije. Ta konferenca z udeležbo okrog 450 ravnateljev in ravnateljic, učiteljev in učiteljic ter vzgojiteljev in vzgojiteljic iz vse Slovenije ter uglednih strokovnjakov iz domovine in tujine pomeni tudi začetek neposrednega izvajanja pro-jekta integracije etičnih standardov in vrednot v vzgojo in izobraževa-nje, projekta, ki se nadaljuje in širi že tudi v svojih naslednjih fazah. Danes prehaja projekt že v tretje leto intenzivnega delovanja.

Naj namesto sklepnih misli spomnim na besede akad. Jožeta Tron-tlja; lahko so nam za vodilo: »Če se boste (kot v kakšni apokaliptični viziji) znašli na zadnjem kontinentu ali otoku preživetja, kaj boste želeli zapisati v njegovo ustavo? Strah vas bo ponovitve scenarija v novi, še pogubnejši obliki. Enako pa vas bo strah zdrsa v kakšen nov totalita-rizem. Kje boste iskali rešitve? Prva bo neoporečna znanost, ki je ne bo dovoljeno zlorabiti. Ta bo pokazala učinke človekovega ravnanja na naravo in možne poti iz ekološke krize ali vsaj iz njenega poglabljanja. Druga bo etika, ki bo poskrbela za preprečevanje zlorab. Predvsem pa bo pokazala na potrebo po vzgoji. In tretje bodo vrline in vrednote. Med njimi bo na visokem mestu spoštovanje človeškega dostojanstva in sočutna skrb za sočloveka. Na enako visokem pa bo odgovorna skrb za ostalo življenje na Zemlji. Nad vsem tem pa bo modrost, brez katere ni dobrega, daljnovidnega vodenja.«

Naša naloga je, da si sami priborimo in uveljavimo te tri rešitve in se tako izognemu apokalipsi. Tega se je akad. Jože Trontelj globoko zave-dal. Tej nalogi je zvesto sledil do konca življenja. S svojo zapuščino pa jo je zadal tudi naslednjim generacijam.

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Tone Žakelj

Spomin na raziskovalca Jožeta Trontlja

Spomladi leta 1983 so me sprejeli v uk za delovno mesto nevrofi-ziološkega asistenta v laboratoriju za senzorično encefalografijo Inšti-tuta za klinično nevrofiziologijo (IKN) ljubljanskega kliničnega centra. Doživel sem povsem nepričakovan sprejem: znašel sem se med ljudmi, prihodnjimi sodelavci, ki so mi bili takoj iskreno naklonjeni, prijateljski, celo družinsko domači.

V svetli pisarni miniaturnih razsežnosti, ki so jo optično zmanjševali še kupi knjig in papirjev, so me predstavili takrat izrednemu profesor-ju Jožetu Trontlju. Dotlej ga nisem osebno poznal, vedel sem le, da je ugleden, mednarodno priznan nevrofiziolog. K njemu sem zato pristo-pil z neprikritim strahospoštovanjem. Prof. Trontelj je mojo zadrego za-znal in jo takoj skušal odpihniti, rekoč: »Tu smo vsi na ti. Tone, jaz sem Jože«. Ni mi treba pojasnjevati, da me je še kar nekaj časa popravljal, ko se mi je tikanje zatikalo.

Že kmalu po začetku mojega službovanja me je nekajkrat poklical v svojo sobico, ker je opazil, da pišem asistentska poročila brez medicin-skih žargonizmov, nepotrebnih tujk in v kar najbolj preprostem jeziku. Tako sta naju zbližala ljubezen do slovenskega jezika in, kot sva kmalu ugotovila, obojestransko navdušenje nad latinščino. Povsem prijatelj-sko vez, ki je postala trajna, pa mi je naklonil v času dveh štirimesečnih obdobij, ko sem bil njegov nevrofiziološki asistent v Kuvajtu.

Že po prvi kuvajtski izkušnji me je Jože – takrat nisem bil več v za-dregi, ko sem ga nagovarjal z imenom – iz laboratorija neformalno pre-zaposlil na mesto administrativno-tehničnega pomočnika skupine za raziskovalno delo na področju nevrobiologija, katere vodja je bil. Tako sem pobliže spoznal njegovo raziskovalno dejavnost, v kateri je bil – kot drugod – marljiv, natančen in prizadeven.

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Tisti čas ocenjujem kot zaton zlate dobe raziskovalnega delovanja na inštitutu: raziskovalno in siceršnje prizadevanje tako za kolektivni kot individualni uspeh so izžarevali zdravniki, ki so znali k delu pritegniti sodelavce – inženirje, asistentke, tehnike in administratorke. Takrat je še veljalo načelo, ki ga je postavil ustanovitelj inštituta, prof. Dimitrije-vić, tudi član Akademije (a se žal današnjega zbora ne more udeležiti): delaj rutino na akademski način; s tem dobiš podatke za raziskovalno delo, s katerim spet obogatiš in izboljšaš rutino.

Delovni čas je bil raztegljiv za vse sodelavce: če je bilo treba, smo delali popoldne in ponoči. Bili smo poskusni zajčki, risarji, fotografi, tip-karji, kopirci, lektorji, analitiki, varilci in mizarji, vsak nekaj od vsega, po svojih močeh in sposobnostih. Kot vodja skupine je Jože voljo do sode-lovanja in delovni prispevek vsakogar cenil in ju tudi nagrajeval, kolikor je bilo v njegovi moči. Za nagrado nas sicer ni več mogel popeljati na kakšen izlet, morda celo v tujino, kot se je dogajalo poprej, še pod prof. Dimitrijevićem, vsaj nekoliko pa je takrat vodja skupine še imel v rokah moč tudi za nagrajevanje sodelavcev.

To je bil čas, ko smo dobili prve osebne računalnike in ko je tudi na našo raziskovalno obalo pljusknil val »publish or perish« in z njim bibliometrija. Jože temu ni podlegel, z zgledom in besedo je spodbujal kolege raziskovalce, naj si prizadevajo, da bi naredili, kar bi bilo vredno objave, in ne bi objavljali zgolj za nabiranje točk.

Kot ugleden raziskovalec je bil Jože vpoklican tudi v najrazličnejše odbore, komisije in druge organe, ki so vodili raziskovalno politiko v zdrav stvu ali celo zdravstveno politiko samo. Sodelovanje v njih je Jože jemal kot dolžnost, a ker je kmalu spoznal, da sta tam razum in težnja k pravičnosti šibkejši orodji kot politično in birokratsko orožje, je v teh organih sodeloval bolj s fizično navzočnostjo.

Rad je imel jasno, premišljeno in odkrito besedo. Ni cenil spreneve-danja, prikrivanja pravih misli z lingvistično gimnastiko, leporečja, sle-pomišenja in odločanja brez dobrih analiz. Sam je zapisal: »Poslušanje jasnega, dobro odmerjenega govora v lepem jeziku je kot vdihavanje

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svežega, čistega zraka. Žal v zadnjem času obojega – jasnega govora in čistega zraka – že hudo primanjkuje«. Tako mu ni šlo v račun, da je v prvem hipu zdravnikov pri nas preveč, v drugem premalo, v tretjem pa znova preveč. Hudoval se je nad tistimi evropskimi kolegi znanstveniki, ki so iskali posebno poimenovanje za človeški zarodek, ustvarjen s klo-niranjem, samo zato, da bi si olajšali vest, ko bi ga popredmetili v razi-skavah; nasmihal se je evrokratom, ki so zavračali plačilo računa, ker je bil naslovljen z invoice in ne – kot je takrat veljalo za pravilno – s cost statement. In odkrito se je nasmejal, ko je nekega dne ugotovil, da ne dela več na Inštitutu za klinično nevrofiziologijo, ampak na Kliničnem inštitutu za klinično nevrofiziologijo.

Zavedal se je, da je res treba razviti orodje, ocenjevalni sistem, s ka-terim bi bilo mogoče čim bolj objektivno primerjati raziskovalno uspe-šnost skupin, ki bi bila eno od meril za njihovo financiranje. Pri tem je seveda zagovarjal čim večjo preprostost, poštenost in pravičnost. Sodeloval je pri razvoju takega sistema in s kolegi drugih raziskovalnih skupin v medicini dosegel soglasje za ekspertni sistem, ki je temeljil na bibliografski bazi Biomedicina Slovenica.

Z leti je administracija, ki je nezaustavljivo preraščala v birokracijo, vodjem raziskovalnih skupin vedno bolj jemala iz rok pristojnosti vodij. Pri tem je bil povsem nemočen in vedel je, da bi bilo prizadevanje za preobrat trenda uspešno, kot je otrokovo praznjenje morskega zaliva z majhno kanglico. Žal mu je bilo, da je raziskovalno delo v medicini po-stalo deklarativno sicer zaželeno, v resnici pa hiperregulirano in s tem hudo zavirano. V ospredju že davno ni več akademska obravnava bolni-ka, pač pa klinične poti, nekakšni tekoči trakovi v zdravstveni industriji. Nekdanji ekspertni sistem za ocenjevanje znanosti v medicini je povo-zila bibliometrija, univerzalna za vse znanosti, računalniško vodena, a redkokomu razumljiva.

Nad tem je bil Jože globoko razočaran in se je v zadnjih letih iz vod-stvenih krogov te vrste pa tudi iz znanosti umaknil, kolikor se je le dalo.

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Raje se je skoraj v celoti posvetil etiki. V njej ostajajo največja moč razum, ki ni podprt z matematiko in računalništvom, pač pa z empati-jo do sočloveka, še posebej trpečega, prepričanost v svetost življenja, prizadevanje za pravičnost, življenje po vrlinah in za vrednote ter jasna, odkrita beseda. Na tem področju je bil Jože neprekosljiv. Avtoriteta, ki jo bo težko nadomestiti.

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Janez Trontelj

Spomini na brata Jožeta

Z Jožetom sva bila neločljiva prijatelja od otroških let. Jože je bil dve leti starejši od mene. Skupaj sva hodila nabirat borovnice, skupaj s sedem let starejšim bratom smo preživljali poletne počitnice na kmetih pri dedku in babici. V bližini njune domačije je tekel potok, tu sva se lotevala ribištva in postala odlična ribiča. Ribištvo je ostalo Jožetov hobi do konca življenja.

Po diplomi na Medicinski fakulteti se je Jože zaposlil na Inštitutu za klinično nevrofiziologijo v Ljubljani in se z vsem žarom posvetil razi-skovalnemu delu. Potreboval je različne instrumente, ki pa jih tedaj na inštitutu ni bilo. Kot asistent na Fakulteti za elektrotehniko tudi sam nisem imel veliko opreme. Laboratorij je bil skoraj prazen, denarja za nakupe praktično ni bilo. Oba sva bila entuziasta, želela sva kaj ustva-riti. Oba sva investirala svoj denar v drobno opremo in sestavne dele in iz njih ustvarjala izvirno tehnološko napredno merilno opremo, ki je Jožeta in njegove sodelavce zavihtela v sam vrh iskanj. Rezultati razi-skav, objavljeni v člankih, so pritegnili pozornost svetovne strokovne javnosti.

Spominjam se, da je Jože s Švedske prinesel tanke elektrode z majh-no aktivno površino (nekaj deset mikronov) in začela sva postavljati metodo zaznavanja potenciala enega samega mišičnega vlakna. Me-todo sva izpopolnjevala in jo dogradila v robusten merilni sistem, ki je omogočal za tisti čas neverjetno točnost merjenja časa nastanka potenciala mišičnega vlakna v velikostnem razredu ene milijoninke se-kunde z ločljivostjo 0.1 mikrosekunde (svetlobni žarek v tem času pre-potuje le 30 metrov). To je bilo sredi sedemdesetih let. Presenetilo me je, da obstajajo v človeškem telesu tako hitri pojavi. Pokazalo se je, da je točna meritev teh pojavov ključna za diagnostiko.

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Skupaj s starejšim bratom Lojzetom smo zasnovali merilni sistem, ki je vključeval doma izdelani električni stimulator, vhodne in izhodne enote za prvi procesni računalnik v tistem času: HP 2115A.

Zasnovali smo električni stimulator, ki je desetletja prekašal komer-cialne stimulatorje po svojih bogatih funkcijah in je ves čas deloval za-nesljivo.

Danes se zdi povsem neverjetno, kaj vse nam je uspelo narediti z ra-čunalnikom, ki je imel vsega 8 kilobitov pomnilnika in 16 kilobitov pro-gramskega pomnilnika s feritnimi obročki. Program smo vnašali ročno z nizom ukazov s stikali, kjer je vsako stikalo predstavljalo posamezen bit strojne kode. Shranjevali smo ga na papirnati trak teleprinterja.

To je bil pionirski sistem, kakršnega niso imeli nikjer na svetu. Zato sem bil kot gost povabljen na vrsto odličnih raziskovalnih institucij na vzhodni in zahodni obali ZDA, kjer sem predstavil naše izvirne tehnične rešitve in požel velika priznanja. Zadovoljen sem, da je tudi Tehnični muzej Slovenije ta dosežek uvrstil v svojo zbirko, kjer se z njim lahko seznanite tudi vi danes, po štirih desetletjih od nastanka.

S svojim velikim znanjem, dobrimi idejami in odličnim raziskovalnim orodjem je Jože zablestel. Njegovi rezultati na področju proučevanja in analiz potencialov enega mišičnega vlakna so bili opaženi. Kot ključni ustvarjalec diagnostične metode je pomembno prispeval k razumeva-nju živčnomišičnega prenosa signala.

Presedela sva mnoge dneve in noči pri izvajanju poskusov in pri iz-boljševanju tehnike. Nikoli nisva gledala na uro, oba sva bila popolno-ma predana svojemu delu, oba sva vedela, da le vztrajno delo lahko privede do rezultata. In rezultati so bili najino največje zadovoljstvo.

Bil je imeniten sodelavec, navdihoval je svojo okolico, razdajal se je na mnogih področjih do konca življenja. Vsako delo je opravil temeljito in predano, bil je perfekcionist.

Spremljal sem njegovo delo predsednika Slovenske akademije zna-nosti in umetnosti in dano mi je bilo brati njegova besedila, napisana za javne nastope. Vedno me je navduševal s svojo izjemnostjo in skro-

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mnostjo. Bil je darežljiv in velikodušen in za svoja javna predavanja je vedno zavrnil honorar. Kadar ga je kljub vsemu dobil, ga je vselej veli-kodušno podaril v dobrodelne namene.

Prepričan sem, da je medicina izgubila izjemnega zdravnika in odlič-nega znanstvenika. Slovenski akademiji znanosti in umetnosti je kot predsednik pustil neizbrisen, neponovljiv pečat.

Zelo ga pogrešamo.

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Sprejem udeležencev simpozija pri predsedniku SAZU akad. Tadeju Bajdu / Reception of invited speakers by Tadej Bajd, President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

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Tadej Bajd

Academician Jože Trontelj – The Years of his Presidency of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences

and Arts

IntroductionIn 1991 Jože Trontelj was elected to the Slovenian Academy of Sci-

ences and Arts as an associate member, becoming a full member in 1995. In 2002 he became its Vice-President and on 6 May 2008 its President. I had the privilege to be Vice-President during Mr Trontelj’s second and third mandates. Of course I had known him even before then, as the Faculty of Electrical Engineering closely cooperated with the Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology on biomedical signal process-ing. We sometimes even attended the same international conferences. I was also well acquainted with his groundbreaking and internationally significant research work, which I held in high esteem.

But here I will only speak about the five and half years he was Presi-dent of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. This was a period between two milestones, the 70th and 75th anniversaries of our in-stitution. In his address for the 70th anniversary of the Academy, Mr Tontelj stressed the importance of the preservation of tradition. He argued that tradition is a concept which neither our generation nor this part of the world have learned to respect sufficiently. Reforms may be sensible, but this does not mean that it is necessarily wise to imple-ment them. He remarked, with his customary wit, that wisdom is intelli-gence with a long time constant.

Mr Trontelj was also well aware that presiding over the work of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts was a heavy responsibility. He wrote, in one of his annual reports, that »autonomy, sovereignty, inde-

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pendence of individuals and institutions are becoming more and more respected and more and more highly regarded values. This makes us academicians and the Academy itself most privileged. But privilege also means responsibility. Our duty to society. We must endeavour with all our might to fulfil its rightful expectations«.

International cooperationAs President of the Academy, Jože Trontelj encouraged coopera-

tion with various international forums, networks and associations, in particular with the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EA-SAC), the All European Academies (ALLEA) and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. During his presidency the Academy also joined the Danube Academies Conference, which brings together 21 acad-emies from the Danube Basin.

He was a member of the Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics of the ALLEA Standing Committee on Science and Ethics. The committee’s concern was the preparation of the code of conduct on research integrity and ethics and philosophy education as part of the training of junior researchers. The work of the permanent working group resulted in the publication Ethics Education in Science, of which Mr Trontelj was one of the authors.

When he became our President, the project of Valvasor’s Iconote-que, launched by the Academy, was drawing to a close. The project concerned the publication of 18 volumes of facsimiles of prints from the legacy of Valvasor, our great predecessor and member of London’s Royal Society. The gigantic project was concluded through incessant effort on the part of Dr Lojze Gostiša. In 2008, the publication was pre-sented in the Slovenian Philharmony. In 2010 Mr Trontelj was invited to attend the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, the oldest uninterruptedly operating academy in the world, which he presented with a copy of Valvasor’s Iconoteque. In 2011 he donated two more copies of the Iconoteque, one to the Austrian National Li-

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brary in Vienna, which holds many important items of Slovenian lit-erary patrimony, and the other to the largest library in Scandinavia, the Carolina Rediviva in Uppsala in Sweden. A year later a copy of the Valvasor facsimiles was donated to the Vienna’s Albertina, which holds one of the world’s most celebrated collections of graphic art.

One the last international events to which Jože Trontelj participa-ted was the conferring of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Tolerance Award to the Argentinian-Slovenian Lazarist Father Pedro Opeka. The award ceremony was held at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Protection of the environmentIn his speeches and articles Jože Trontelj often argued that Slovenia

needs to radically change its development strategy, as its total ecologi-cal footprint is twice the planet’s biocapacity (acceptable use of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions) and it uses natural resources in an unacceptably wasteful way and thus causes huge environmental pressure. He reminded us of the wasteful use of energy and the rapid increase in our road traffic. In his opinion electric energy from nuclear plants was, as controversial as it may be, the only short-term feasible and cost-effective solution which does not increase greenhouse gas emissions. Under his presidency, the Academy supported the establish-ment of a Regional Park in the Karst region and the programme of preserving the natural and cultural heritage of Goričko. He underlined the necessity to preserve agricultural land and was strongly opposed to the idea of privatising water sources, appealing for the preservation of pristine water courses, in particular the River Soča and its tributa-ries. He was also against the construction of power plants on the Mura, as he considered this would be a degradation of the river system. He even proposed that Slovenia create the office of ombudsman for the protection of rights and benefits of future generations.

He devoted special attention to the conservation of important cul-

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tural monuments and of valuable architectural and urban heritage and considered as most urgent the revamping of several buildings and ur-ban features of Ljubljana’s old city centre. He advocated the idea of a pile-dwelling museum at Špica (at the confluent of the Ljubljanica and Gradaščica in Ljubljana) and filed a protest against the decision to can-cel the construction of a new National and University Library. Despite the Academy’s appeals against the wanton destruction of Slovenia’s cultural heritage, Mr Trontelj was unable to prevent the demolition of the 19th century multi-purpose facility of Kolizej.

EducationStudy of natural sciences has become a particular concern of world

and European academies. President Trontelj repeatedly pointed out the relative under-representation of natural sciences in the second-ary education system and the issue of unbalanced enrolment of sec-ondary school leavers in various higher education programmes. Under his presidency, the Academy organised three consultations on these issues: one on the teaching of biology, one on the teaching of mathe-matics, physics and chemistry, and one on teaching technical subjects in secondary schools. His intention was also to organise consultations on the teaching of the arts and of humanities and social studies. These consultations will be organised in the near future.

Mr Trontelj also devoted special attention to the use of Slovene and foreign languages at Slovenia’s universities. He considered that the, albeit inevitable, internationalisation of higher education may bring about unfavourable consequences, i.e. the totally unjustified limita-tion of the rights of Slovene students and a falling behind in terms of the development of Slovene science terminology and language. He promoted the organisation of a symposium on Slovene in higher edu-cation and science and submitted its conclusions to the relevant minis-ter. He considered that the widespread negligent and incorrect use of Slovene in everyday communication was equally detrimental.

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National reconciliationDr Danilo Türk suggested that the Academy help in creating an

authentic, scientific and unbiased view on the actions of the state in terms of the rule of law and on the violations of human rights per-petuated by the authorities in the decades following the Second World War. Jože Trontelj welcomed this initiative as an important exercise which could greatly contribute to the achievement of national recon-ciliation. He strongly encouraged all actions aiming at tolerant honour-ing of the memory of those who were killed in post-war executions. He conceded that much had already been done, but considered that there should have been more symbolic acts of reconciliation. He thus estab-lished a commission for human rights tasked with the preparation of a declaration in which the Academy would formulate its position on the violations of human rights after the Second World War. Reaction to the draft declaration was a mixed one, however, and owing to lack of agreement, the Academy decided not to publish it.

ConclusionAcademician Jože Trontelj had only a month to live when the Presi-

dent of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, awarded the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts with the Order for Exceptional Services on its 75th anniversary for its contribution to promoting and accelerat-ing development in science and the arts. According to the citation, the number of the Academy’s symposiums at the national and internati-onal levels has increased, topical themes are being addressed at expert consultation sessions, and the members of the Academy frequently participate in consultations in other institutions.

For the 75th anniversary of the Academy, a series of publications was published– a comprehensive collection of biographies, a first vol-u me of the History of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Academia Operosorum and Baroque Italy – and an exhibition entitled »The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Mirror of Time«

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was organised. The anniversary was followed by a series of articles in the media, and the national television broadcast a film.

The main event was held at the Slovenian Philharmonic --, followed by a concert of works by Slovene composers and academicians. Who could have known that that was the last time we were to listen to an address by President Trontelj? In this address, Mr Tontelj proudly cited the work of Ljubljana’s Academia Operosorum, which was the sixth academy established in Europe after the Royal Society. He reiterated the need to take care of the mother tongue, repeated his continuous warnings concerning what he considered irresponsible management of valuable national heritage, and advocated upgrading of teaching of natural sciences and humanities at both elementary and secondary school levels. He saw the present and the future role of the Academy in creating visions for the future on a scientific basis.

I remember President Trontelj as a serious, reserved, almost sol-emn person. At meetings of the Executive Board he spoke so softly that we had to be completely still if we wanted to catch his words! How-ever, my colleagues who used to go sailing with him describe a totally different Jože – open, more serene and ready to laugh.

At the Academy he showed this side of himself only in his witty New Year’s addresses or on certain occasions when he was able to see the funny side of the murky political situation in Slovenia. He always con-cluded his New Year’s toast with encouraging words, and as a graduate of a classical gymnasium, he also liked to quote Latin phrases. Thus he concluded one of his New Year’s toasts with words by the Roman poet Catullus: Vivamus atque amemus. It is indeed a great sorrow that he is no longer with us, to live and to love.

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Erik Stålberg

Joze Trontelj´s Life as a Clinical Neurophysiologist

With mixed feelings I am now standing in late Jože Trontelj´s Acad-emy. I am a clinical neurophysiologist and have met Jože over the years in his capacity as a physician Jože Trontelj had a number of roles to play in life. Each of us probably know one or two of these, but the striking thing, which may be universal, is how incomplete the picture is of a person with so many profiles. This occasion gives us a good opportu-nity to put the facets together, and maybe a new person will appear? A few of us will witness about his enormous contribution to his specialty in medicine, namely clinical neurophysiology.

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I will give some historical notes and emphasize some of the chara-cteristics I consider hallmarks of Jože that cross the borders between medicine and other areas in his life.

He thought of others. He came to Uppsala in 1972 to learn a new technique. When young investigators go abroad for further training the driving force is either a very supportive and visionary professor, in this case Professor Milan Dimitrijević, or the investigator’s own very strong ambition to learn and expand his mind. In this case it was the lucky combination of the two. This says two things about Trontelj and about the organization of the Ljubljana hospital lab in clinical neuro-physiology at that time. Firstly, he had good contact with his boss, and listened to good advice. Secondly, he was extremely eager to learn new things to bring home to his laboratory, to his hospital and actually to his country. Already early he thought of the future value of his ac-tions, for patients, students, colleagues and society. This has been one of the leading ideas throughout his life.

Later I had the pleasure to write some books and many articles with Jože. This was a pleasure since the practical work of editing, correcting and improving was a learning process for me. His knowledge in Eng-lish was outstanding and his corrections always improved a raw manu-script. He used a minimum of words to clarify his thoughts. I am sure that he did this also in all his fields beyond medicine. He did not talk until he had a clear thought to convey. He did not waste anyone’s time and we knew that when Jože was talking, he had something worth-while to say.

Another characteristic for which Jože later became known was his observant eye for peculiarities, aberrations and the beauty in details. When we performed electrical recordings from diseased muscles, now and then he noticed with great curiosity things that we did not ob-serve or pay attention to. From this he later could identify important phenomena or functions. It seems that he transferred this to his work in this Academy and to bioethics. He was open-minded and aware of

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things around him that many may have missed. He could extract and bring to light things that had passed unseen by others; he was an in-quisitive scientist and an important eye opener.

I think it is fair to guess that Jože’s very important position in his country and his international activities in the field of bioethics were greatly unknown among his colleagues in medicine as I already men-tioned. He was known to us as a doctor and scientist. He always came to our meetings and he saw patients every week. This was a man that utilized the 24 hours of a day to the maximum, not just to an optimum. Why did not his medical colleagues know this big part of Jože? Because he was a modest man with great integrity, who focused every moment on the task he confronted at that moment.

One way to be able to deliver so much was to have helpers. He had the fantastic talent to make his daily work into a team’s work. His many collaborators were his supporting hands, most of all his family, with his wife Tatjana as the leader. It is not out of line that I can tell you how much he worried and cared for his family in times of illness and other problems. How many times did they invite participants of a medical course to their house, and how cheerfully did Tatjana help both with patients and papers? During this last empty year, Tatjana continues to work in the neurophysiological lab among other things.

As all here have experienced, he had many speeches to give. In the medical field it is rather simple to give a lecture with lots of slides that guide the speaker from one thought to the other. When it came to his after-dinner speeches or such, he was simply excellent. Why? He always had an important message in his contribution and he let hu-mor be the skeleton around which all was built. It was a pleasure to hear his warm, very personal speeches addressing the hostess, host or friend. We know that he delivered many formal speeches that must have caught the audience. The aim of his talks was always to convey important messages, medical, philosophical, ethical, political or perso-nal. He was always very well prepared, condensed not to bore the

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listener and delivered his talks not only in his own language, but often in his excellent English.

Jože was a mild and low key man with modest body language until he wanted to convince his audience, at which point he nodded his head. He could also be very humorous, using words and thoughts to amuse us, not big gestures. In the medical field he was acknowledged for two things, one his deep knowledge of his own specialty and the meticulous way he performed experiments, and the way he demon-strated how to do things. As an example I mention here an episode when JoŽe and I had dinner in Istanbul in a restaurant on the Bosporus after a medical course we had just given in Turkey. “Jože,” I said, “in heaven we will have no need for our knowledge of this type of record-ings - everyone is healthy there.” He said, “But Erik, we can at least make some demonstrations, as we did today.”

Jože has left us after a long day’s work. Let us promote his ideas, remember what he taught us about life and in his spirit work to con-tribute to a better world.

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Donald B. Sanders

Address

Mr President, Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, FriendsIt is my honor to be able to participate in this remembrance of

my colleague and friend, Professor Jože Trontelj. We are here today to honor Jože’s achievements in the fields of Clinical Neurophysiology and Biomedical Ethics and his tenure as President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Art.

Like Professor Stålberg, I am a Clinical Neurophysiologist, and have known Jože mainly in that context. I first met Jože in 1980, at a course on Single Fiber EMG, in Athens, and have had the pleasure of partici-pating with him in many such courses around the world in the years

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since then. Jože was one of the pioneers in the development of Sin-gle Fiber EMG, the most sensitive clinical technique for demonstra-ting the impaired transmission of impulses from nerve to muscle that characterizes certain neuromuscular diseases. It is an invaluable tool in diagnosing these diseases, and thanks to a large extent on Jože’s contribution, has been incorporated into the clinical routine in many electrodiagnostic laboratories worldwide.

The particular technique that Jože championed, and of which he was the unchallenged master, involves simultaneously stimulating single motor nerve fibers while manually positioning a fine record-ing electrode to maintain proximity to individual muscle fibers. You should understand that the movements required in the manipulations involved are measured in microns. This is a demanding technique, re-quiring patience and exquisite attention to many, sometimes compet-ing technical details, at the same time being attentive to the needs of the patient being studied.

Shortly after beginning his work with SFEMG with Professor Stål-berg, Jože created a novel field of investigation, using the stimulation SFEMG technique to study reflex activity in man, which became the topic of his thesis at the University of Ljubljana, in 1971. In addition to other contributions in clinical neurophysiology and neurology, he ex-panded the examination of reflex activity to include brainstem reflexes and other similar phenomena, such as axon reflexes and ephaptic ex-citation in human skeletal muscle, and the effects of cerebrovascular accidents on peripheral motor units. His papers on these subjects are classics in the neuromuscular literature and the definitive publications on these topics.

Not only did Jože typically produce recordings of the very highest quality, but he made it look deceptively easy, setting a high standard for the rest of us. I should mention that Jože seemed to be at his best when his wife, Tatjana was beside him, helping with the analysis. They made a great pair.

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In the summer of 2009, my wife and I joined the Stålbergs and Tron-teljs for 10 days on the west coast of Sweden to finalize the manuscript of a book on Single Fiber EMG. It was during that time that I got to know Jože personally, including his culinary talents – he introduced us to gobji polpetki, which went very well with the Slovenian wines that he provided.

It was also then that I was most struck by his grasp of the subtleties of the English language – frequently when we were discussing the best way to express a particular concept, he would hesitate at the use of a certain word and suggest, with the utmost tactfulness, an alternative that was invariably more appropriate for the context.

It may seem remarkable for one person to have achieved so much in two apparently disparate areas of expertise. So it is interesting to me to consider the relationship between Clinical Neurophysiology and Biomedical Ethics, the two areas in which Jože achieved prominence.

Now, clearly ethical behavior should be part of all scientific work, and one would like to think that this is a given standard. It would be presumptuous for me to define ethical behavior in science before this audience, but it surely should begin with expertise, accurate observa-tions and the ability to arrive at valid conclusions. As William Blake has said, “He who would do good to another must do it in minute particu-lars: general good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite and flatterer. For art and science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars.”

Professor Stålberg has mentioned Jože’s attention to details in the performance of electrodiagnostic studies, and this forms the basis of one of my strongest memories of him. This patience and attention to detail must have carried over into his work in the field of ethics, and his tenure as President of the Slovenian Academy.

Jože was invariably polite, soft-spoken, and considerate of his col-leagues and co-workers. If I had to select one word that best character-izes my memory of Jože as a person, it would be “kind.” In writing this, I thought of the difference in connotation between the English words

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“kind” and “kindly.” Both apply to Jože, but they have subtly different meanings. And he would have appreciated this nuanced difference in meaning.

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Milan R. Dimitrijević

Jože Trontelj – Colleague, Doctor and Researcher

ColleagueIn the first half of the 20th century, neuroradiological and neuro-

physiological methods were introduced into neurological practice in Slovenia to assess structural and functional changes of the nervous system in patients with neurological diseases. This was the material and professional prerequisite for establishing the Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology at the Ljubljana Neurology Clinic.

In 1958, after I returned from some months’ training at the Depart-ment of Clinical Neuroscience of the Serafimerlasarettet Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the then Head of the Neurology Clinic of Lju-bljana, Prof. Dr. Ivan Marinčič asked me to set up a laboratory of clini-cal neurophysiology within the Neurology Clinic. In Sweden, I studied clinical neurophysiology under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Erik Kugel-berg and Assist. Prof. Lars-Erik Larsson. Through the establishment of the Laboratory, clinical neurophysiology became one of the services provided at the Ljubljana Neurology Clinic. To me, this was a signal, that, first and foremost, I should find young doctors who were inter-ested in clinical neurology research work and enjoyed it. This was how I met Jože Trontelj and invited him to join us, together with Tine Prevc, Martin Janko, Milan Gregorič, Janez Faganel, Janez Zidar, Jože Lokar and others. In the opinion of his colleagues and teachers, Jože was a talented and well-educated young doctor. At our Monday afternoon meetings, he often initiated discussions on technical and professional questions of clinical neurophysiology. He was persistent in seeking so-lutions. I remember how committed he was to choosing the best when purchasing equipment. On one such occasion, his voice became weak after a long discussion. He left the room for a while. He returned with a

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loudspeaker and microphone and thus continued to persuade his co-lleagues about the advantages of one or the other instrument needed for the Institute’s programme.

Doctor We jointly started to record electroencephalograms, which was

quite a trend at that time. Jože always took the time to inform co l-leagues who were not well-acquainted with the method, about the ori gin and clinical importance of the method. Now and then he came to my office to tell me how he had failed to convince a certain colleague that electroencephalography could not be used for recording an elec-tro-hepatogram. We also started electromyography, which helps ana-tomically and physiologically identify peripheral nervous system dis-eases. A new neurologist was required for the task. Such experts were yet to be formed through training. We started to invite young doctors and explained them the new neurophysiological practice. One of these doctors was Jože Trontelj. When I first met him, he worked as a gene-ral practitioner in Ljubljana. However, even on our first meeting, he showed a surprisingly good familiarity with the then neurophysiologi-cal practice equipment and work methods. We immediately agreed on his joining the newly created programme of clinical neurology training which focused on clinical neurophysiology. On one occasion later on, when he had already worked in the Laboratory for Clinical Neurophysi-ology, I asked him what prompted his quick decision in favour of clini-cal neurophysiology. He said that he was always interested in biology and physiology, and, in addition to this, his brothers who were electri-cal engineers told him that our laboratory was much better equipped than certain laboratories at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

It was characteristic of Jože that he was able to upgrade clinical findings with clinical neurophysiological findings. Following the inte-gration of the two, he could more easily decide on the optimal method of treatment. An example of this is the application of the tonic vibra-

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tion reflex to modify the pain after peripheral nervous system injury. In this way he checked the validity of the then new theory of pain detec-tion, the so-called “gate theory”. The theory provides an explanation of neuropathic pain, i.e. the pain caused by injury of the nerve structures transmitting nerve impulses. In Slovenia, this was one of the first at-tempts to externally control chronic pain based on neurophysiology. Another such example is a treatment of myasthenia gravis, where Jože successfully applied the electromyographic method, which measures the success of transmitting at the point of contact between the nerve and muscle. Transmitting is hindered in cases of illness; however it can be repaired or normalised through pharmacological interventions. Jože was a doctor who successfully applied non-invasive neurophysio-logical methods to evaluate changes in the sensory and motor func-tions of a patient. In addition to all this, he wisely used the technique of analysis of response of individual motor units to different types of reflex stimulation. In this way he contributed to the improvement of diagnostic procedures and dynamic changes in monitoring the functio n - al conditions of the nervous system during illness. Let me also tell of my personal experience with Jože the doctor. One Sunday, when we were working together in a Houston Hospital, I was bitten by red ants. Anaphylactic shock started to develop. When I started to breathe eas-ily again, there was Jože, standing beside me with an empty syringe. I still do not know how he managed, in such a short time and in a foreign environment, to obtain what was needed for my recovery.

ResearcherWhen Jože was included in training as a clinical neurophysiologist at

the then Ljubljana Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology and later on at the Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology, the key research topic of the two institutions was spasticity in patients suffering from chronic trans-verse spinal cord injury. Research was conducted in cooperation with Dr. Peter Nathan from the the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases,

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Queen's Square, London and Prof. Dr. Lars-Erik Larsson from the Depart-ment of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Linköping, Sweden. It just so happened that Prof. Larson, with whom we cooperated in develo-ping new electrophysiological methods, was a reviewer of the doctoral theses of Jan Ekstedt and Erik Stålberg. For this reason, he drew our atten - tion to the new neurophysiological method which we named micro-electromyography or electromyography of individual muscle fibres. In August of the following year, Jože visited Erik Stålberg, and at his labora-tory in Uppsala he became acquainted with the method. After his return to Ljubljana he used the method for diagnosing patients with suspected myasthenia gravis. Gradually, he started to measure other electrophysio-logical parameters such as density of muscle fibres, transmittance speed within them and other things. On this basis he established new findings which contributed to the understanding of pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy, myotonia, idiopathic scoliosis, hemiplegia after stroke and more. I recall with great pleasure our regular Saturday meet-ings when we started discussions on research of the reflex responses of individual motor units. This later work of Jože was probably one of his most important contributions to clinical neurophysiology.

In short, the meeting of Jože and Erik in Uppsala in 1964 resulted in a completely new and creative path in the electrophysiology of the motor unit and in the pathophysiology of nerve and muscle illnesses. I would like to mention that after some years of cooperation between Erik and Jože, Don Sanders joined them. These three clinical specialists and researchers documented their achievements in a popular mono-graph on microelectromyography, which was reprinted three times.

Some weeks before his unexpected death we met in his office at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) and exchanged some words. To my question regarding his current most important area of work, he answered that this was ethics, and not just medical ethics. After his death, I realized how great Jože’s contribution was in this field, too.

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Janez Zidar

Jože Trontelj – a Long-standing Fellow at the Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology of the University Medical

Centre Ljubljana

I would like to pay tribute to the memory of Jože Trontelj, a member of the Academy, clinical neurophysiologist and ethics expert, on my own behalf as his colleague as well as on behalf of the entire staff of the Ljubljana Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology. His years of service at the Institute exceeded the typical period of employment. For many of us, he was simply Jože – a gentle, polite, well-meaning, even cour-teous man. It is said that some people turn their head towards some people, but turn their back on others. And I can tell you that turning his back on people is something Jože would have never done. He was always willing to help everyone, no matter their profession or position in society. It so happens that I know a little about how he took care of his fellow villagers. He was, among other things, also their doctor and counsellor. And if he felt that his expert knowledge was insufficient for the task, he would seek advice from other doctors or ask them to examine his fellow villagers. I will draw attention to another of Jože's qualities by saying that he was always ready to lend an ear to other people and offer them advice.

At the Institute, Jože had a small office, only a couple of square me-tres large, which he often shared with other people. He often worked there, even when he was already the President of the Slovenian Acade-my of Sciences and Arts. He received guests there, as long as there were not too many of them, as only two or at most three people could fit inside comfortably. But there was something about that room, be-cause even when he was offered a bigger office he still did not want to

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leave. I visited him once at his large and comfortable office at the Acade-my. He seemed to be a bit lost in that enormous place or perhaps it was just my perception. I had the feeling that behind all those books on his large desk – the pile was so big that he could barely see over it when sitting – he had 'built' himself a small 'room' similar to that at the Institute.Jože was always a witty and humorous writer and speaker. He would choose his words as carefully and with thought as he did every-thing else, never drifting into mockery. It was obvious that he enjoyed it. He would speak with an amused and cheerful smile, his head slightly tilted to the side. He emphasised his words with slight hand gestures, always speaking in a voice somewhat too low. He loved humorous and witty exchanges, and I am convinced that he would have held it against me if I had not at least attempted to take such an approach when wri-ting about him.

It was only after I started writing that I realised that I knew very little about his »things of maturity«, let alone his »things of childhood« (in the words of Lojze Kovačič). Therefore, my story begins the day we met. I had not yet begun to work for the Institute when he invited me and a colleague of mine, both newly-qualified doctors, to join him at the first scientific meeting on micro-electromyography in Uppsala. And it was not much later that we assisted in organising another such meeting, which was hosted by Jože and held in Ljubljana. By that time, we had become demonstrators of the electrophysiological method of micro-electromyography. The meetings were attended by experts from different parts of the world. I well remember that they accepted the two of us, both wet behind the ears, as equals. This was not only thanks to Jože, but also thanks to them. Afterwards, we jointly organi-sed several international meetings on a similar topic in Ljubljana.

I might be unable to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why I think that a few words should also be said about Jože's driving abili-ties. This is perhaps to present a view of him that is different than the one generally held, to show him as an ordinary man. He was an erratic

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driver. He would speed up, and then jam on the brakes, causing his fel-low passengers to jolt forward. I remember us travelling in his Austin Maxi to Zagreb Airport on our way to Uppsala and how he cherished that car. But those were different times. People stood in a queue in the cold from one afternoon to the next morning just to buy car tyres. If anyone wanted to buy four tyres, which was the normal thing to do, he had to ask three friends to help him, as every person had the right to buy only one. As for his driving abilities, I would like to share the following story, which I heard from others. During a visit by his closest colleague in the field of neurophysiology, Erik Stålberg, to Ljubljana, the two of them were engaged in a lively debate on electrophysiology-related themes while driving in the aforementioned car. Jože, who sat at the wheel, was so immersed in the debate that he did not notice (at a traffic light) that the traffic light had turned green and therefore he did not start when he should have. It is not clear whether he simply missed the first green light and waited until it turned red and then again green. It is only known that Erik said silently after a while: »Jože, it will never be greener than this!«

If anyone, it was Jože who put Slovenian clinical neurophysiology on the world map. He was a master with a certain sharp pointed tool – the micro-electromyography needle. He was the first student to visit Erik Stålberg in Uppsala, only a year after the latter had defended his doctoral thesis in the field of micro-electromyography, and only three years after Jan Ekstedt was the first to describe the action potentials of single muscle fibres in humans. Jože took micro-electromyography to a whole new scientific level. He was an excellent observer and an even better interpreter of many physiological and pathophysiological phenomena in the human nervous system and muscles. His mind was as sharp as the needle he used.

While good at using a needle, he was even better at using another pointed tool – the pen. And mastering the pen is not entirely unconne-cted with science. New observations need to be put into appropri -

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ate words. Only then do they become accessible and comprehensible to others. He wrote a number of publications in the field of electro-myography (regarding, for example, an investigation of the function of the neuromuscular junction, reflexology, pathological spontaneous activity). One of his most important achievements in this field is certain - ly a book on micro-electromyography (published in three editions), of which he was the co-author. As a neurologist, he also wrote about pain, types of coma and brain death.

Don't let your tongue say what your head may have to pay for! – another proverb worth bearing in mind when remembering Jože. Master-ing the spoken and written word greatly benefited Jože as a humanist and ethics expert. We live in schizophrenic times, when public speak-ing and writing are often abused. Many people speak to hide the truth rather than to reveal it, or they speak simply to outdo others. Jože was quite the opposite. That is why his passing is all the more tragic in these times. He spoke if and when he had something to say. I have said already that he was a master with certain sharp pointed tools and had a sharp mind, but I will amend my words at this point. He had to prick his patients with a needle. But his words, written or spoken, ne-ver stung. He was a discreet, tactful and respectful speaker and writer, and an example to us all.

One of the tasks which he took on with enthusiasm and carried out to perfection for a long time was the management of the »Ku-waiti« project. In 1978, the Ljubljana University Medical Centre was visited by a delegation from Kuwait, which was tasked with selecting several departments and people to help them develop their know - ledge of medicine. Among others, they also selected Jože and clinical neurophysiology. The programme started in 1979. After Iraq's occupa-tion of Kuwait, Jože had to flee the country. Many of us saw the Kuwaiti programme as an opportunity to earn extra money; for most of us, it was the experience of a lifetime, but for Jože, it was much more than that. Perhaps this was also due to the fact that he had started a family

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there, the Kuwaiti programme being the very reason for it, as some of us suspected. In total, he spent almost 5 years in Kuwait, making over 20 visits to the country.

I must say that Jože and his family were exceptional hosts. I am sure that every Institute member has many happy memories of the great banquets held at his house, usually to celebrate a birthday or some other big event, or even without any special occasion. Because of his kindness, on such occasions, his colleagues from the Institute would sometimes plan a surprise for him or one of us would propose a toast. At this point, I have to say something else. Jože, once a pa s-sionate fisherman, was a great lover of fish. At one of the banquets, we played a practical joke on him by switching the heads of saltwater and freshwater fish. A few days before the banquet, a colleague had been undergoing education at the Institute as part of her specialisa-tion in plastic surgery. At the market, we bought two very similar fish – a freshwater fish and a saltwater fish. The colleague specialising in plastic surgery first removed the fish heads and, using a microscope, sewed them back onto the body of the other fish. The question for Jože was whether there was anything unusual about the fish. To our eye, the »surgical operation« has been performed perfectly. But not to the eye of a fisherman. Jože and his son, also a fisherman, solved the riddle in no time, although we had hoped that they would not.

Several years later, in 2008, to be precise, Jože himself took part in a switching of heads, quite literally. He became the head of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, replacing the former head. A wise man, Jože knew very well what could happen to one’s head when appointed to such a prominent position. But he accepted it nonetheless, which had not been the case on some other occasions in the past. Perhaps he estimated that he could work well with members of the Academy, who were not big-headed and knew that two heads were better than one. But this success, like the many awards he had received in the past, did not make him conceited. He remained the moderate and simple man

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he had always been. He was well aware of the fact that pride comes before a fall.

However, during his term of office as the head of the Academy, he became visibly tired and slowed down (probably also due to his many other obligations), and he sometimes complained about it. We some-times tried to turn it into a joke by saying “only a scarecrow hasn’t a worry in the world.” Maybe it would have been easier for him if he had known how to share his worries and obligations with others.

Jože was a perfectionist in every respect. As a colleague, host, doc-tor, and researcher. And it seems to me that he strove for perfection, in particular, in his writing. And when I say this I do not mean simply the writing of scientific articles or texts on bioethics. He wanted to write every letter by himself, and he did so. He had no secretary and he did not need one. And his letters were not few in number. In his capacity as the President of the National Medical Ethics Committee, per month he wrote up to 200 replies to applicants, one third of the responses being opinions on the ethical appropriateness of research projects. And this was just one of the things he had to do as the president of this commit-tee, in addition to a number of other obligations stemming from other important positions he held.

I do not know whether I am right or wrong, but perhaps the very reason that he did not have enough trust in others or that he trusted only a few people was his tendency to strive for perfection in every-thing he did. I may be exaggerating a little, but of all his friends who were clinical neurophysiologists from all over the world, few of them could truly be considered to have been his students.

In his spare time, he polished his already excellent English, while fishing on the Ljubljanica and Gradaščica Rivers, where he was often joined by his Scottish friend, Alistair McKinon. While casting their fish-ing rods, the two of them discussed English grammar and the meaning of particular words. As a result, Jože's English was impeccable. While this certainly holds true for his English writing skills, opinions differ on

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the fluency of his spoken English. He spoke English, the same as he did Slovenian, slowly, often pausing and carefully choosing words that best conveyed his thoughts. This might have given a superficial and inatten-tive listener the false impression that he did not know the language well. There was a surgeon who once confided to one of Jože's friends: »Jože is not very fluent in English, is he?«

Jože's legacy lies not only in the hundreds of pages he wrote – he also encouraged us to write as much as possible as this would help us develop our skills of reflection – but also in his manner of speaking and in the fact that he was an example to us all. I trust that at least some of his legacy has found or will find fertile soil. We are grateful to him for the time we spent together.

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Božidar Voljč

A Few Memories of Jože Trontelj

Jože Trontelj and I were connected in some way even before we were born. As young newlyweds, our parents knew each other and occa-sionally socialised. Our fathers' career paths later led each of them in different directions and they lost contact. My mother frequently talked about them whenever Jože's name was mentioned in conversation. However, this had no impact on our subsequent acquaintance.

My first memories of him date back to the former classic grammar school in Ljubljana, where we spent eight years, from when we were children aged eleven to our graduation at the age of eighteen, when we attained »maturity and ability to study at institutions of higher education,« as was written in the graduation certificate, with which we each went our separate ways to meet our destinies. Jože was a year younger than me, which is why I cannot remember when I started to notice him. There were not very many outstanding students at the grammar school and everybody knew who they were. Jože was par-ticularly well-known. He was a quiet, polite boy and also later, through-out the time I knew him, he remained so. As a high school student, not only did he enjoy a good reputation among other students, but he was - so it seemed to me - also well respected among the professors, who could see in him a future exemplary Slovenian scholar. In contrast, as far as discipline and grades were concerned, I was far from being a perfect student, and because he was also younger, we didn’t socialise much. We only knew each other as “classics,” which is what other we and other high school students and used to call ourselves. Well, Jože was an excellent student, which meant that he did not have to sit for the graduation exam, having already attained maturity and ability to pursue further studies with his school grades.

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All this changed when after one year of forestry studies I enrolled in medicine. When I saw Jože among my colleagues I immediately knew that he would finish his studies successfully; however; I was not so sure about my own ability to do the same. In each course of study, and par-ticularly in medicine, quite a few people quit, and after forestry I was rightly worried about how things would work out for me. Since both our surnames start with a letter at the end of the alphabet, we always found ourselves in the same group for practical classes and we used the same dissection table at anatomy. During the long afternoons that we spent dissecting, using Latin nomenclature to describe tissues and organs, our conversation also casually strayed to the Latin and Greek we learned in high school. Here we instantly hit it off, and even later, until the end, often during our conversations we would return to the two classical languages. He often mentioned pieces of information that went beyond our grammar school knowledge which made me re-alise that he had enriched his own knowledge using other sources. I can say that our classical education was one of the cornerstones of our long-standing friendship and relationship. Even last year, while we were sitting in the Presidential room of the Academy, we were talking about why Cicero, who was known in the Senate for his sharp tongue and acerbic comments, wrote his famous essay on age, Cato Maior de senectute, in such a mild language and how was it that he chose Cato as his speaker, who was far from being known as a kind person? In these discussions Jože always surprised me with his knowledge of both languages, which in my eyes was somehow related to his excellent medical knowledge. It was evident that in grammar school and at the medical faculty he absorbed knowledge much more deeply than the average student, otherwise he would not have been able to remember what he had learned so well, nor remember it for so long.

After graduation our paths parted for a few years. Jože started his specialisation and I started to build my medical career in the country, where I worked for twenty years and occasionally also received a medi-

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cal report from Jože for one of my patients or or anoother. This would probably have remained unchanged, if I hadn’t posted a few articles in a fishing magazine called Ribič. I don't really know when and how we met as fishermen, I only know that this occurred because of my articles. Even today, I don't know how we never came to talk about fishing in our academic years. This is very unusual, but that's how it was. When we finally did start talking about fishing, our friendship was not only shaped by Latin and Greek, but also by fish. It is difficult for someone who has never fished, to understand how fish are able to forge such deep ties between people. But not every fish does this in the same way. Although we both caught trout, pike, salmon, bleak, nase and many other varieties, it was the grayling that affected our fishing relationship the most, an elegant, gentlemanly and finicky fish, which lives in the most beautiful parts of Slovenian Alpine and Karst waters. I often recall and picture our grayling fishing trips on the Kolpa, Gradaščica and Sora rivers, as well as the time when his wife Tatjana joined us, and when, still young, we went fly-fishing with my Austrian friends on the Drava River, somewhere high above Špital.

Then came the time when, with great expectations and love for our country, we helped to shape an independent Slovenia. Changes in health care could not be achieved without our best experts. So it ha p-pened that Jože and I began to meet in order to carry out responsible tasks where we combined medical care with a social consciousness im-parted to us by our excellent faculty and high school teachers. Promot-ing the reputation of a young country and its health care system in in-ternational environments was one of those important tasks. We made sure to entrust such tasks to professionals who were able to represent Slovenia abroad at the highest level, both in terms of professionalism and foreign language proficiency. Jože was a reliable colleague in all respects. For him, an agreement also meant the successful realisation of the tasks entrusted to him. So when a new Chairman of the Medi-cal Ethics Committee had to be appointed, there was no other person,

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either from a human or professional aspect, that would have been more appropriate than him. He had successfully been carrying out this arduous and responsible task for almost fifteen years, up until the time of his premature death. His term of office has been one of the longest, if not actually the longest in Slovenia so far. Thanks to him, Slovenia enjoys a great reputation in the field of medical ethics in European circles, and Jože became one of its most distinguished representatives respected at the European level.

Shortly after I finished my work at the Ministry of Health, Jože invi-ted me to become a member of the Committee. Thus began our longest and most intense period of cooperation. I feel it is important to stress that the Medical Ethics Committee, with its views, which Jože played an important role in forming, is one of the few state institutions that has managed to preserve its reputation in a demanding, media-impatient and politically aggressive Slovenian environment. It hasn't always been easy, and some of the Committee's views were not well received by a percentage of the public and media. However, so far the Committee has not altered or adjusted any of its views, neither has time disproved any of them. Jože always knew how to justify the Committee's position in an understandable way, in his usual calm and composed manner, that was so typical of him. He drew on his own solid moral principles, which are the basis for all decisions about the ethics of any action and which do not allow for crafty interpretation. As Chairman of the Committee he had the full confidence of all members, which he maintained with his values and wisdom. With his death, Slovenia lost not only an inter-nationally recognized neurophysiologist and president of the Academy, but an undisputed authority in the field of biomedical ethics, whom it will be difficult to replace. On several occasions we have again care-fully read the positions formulated by him on behalf of the Committee, which represent the pattern of ethical biomedical thinking, reasoning and behaviour. He has left us a demanding legacy, and now it is the duty of Committee members to do our best to follow it.

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Along the path of life we meet a lot of co-travellers, and the lon-ger we live, the more of them there are – some of them join us for a shorter, others for a longer period of time. Some of them accompany us throughout our lives, but these are quite rare. In the evening of our lives comes a time when one, then another of them bis us fare-well. Each of them leaves behind a feeling of conclusion, finality, the notion of no further new meetings ... But the world goes on and the river of time, as they say, never stops flowing. For those of us who have reached the years referred to as »old age,« this is different. There is not enough time for new true friendships now, those are built and strengthened through different challenges from an early age. So those who are gone leave behind an emptiness in time and space around us, which makes us selfishly desire not to be the last to go. What is left are memories, stories,... and perhaps the question: What would Jože do in such a case? And the realisation, that the grayling that Jože and I might still catch together, are no more.

Thank you for your attention.

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Janek Musek

Ethics and Values for the Future

As a person, Prof. Dr. Jože Trontelj embodied scientific achievements of global importance and human greatness, the highest intellectual accom-plishments and noble kindness, an unwavering hard-working spirit and dedication to his family, professional excellence and great wisdom, involving the highest expert, professional and social positions, as well as great personal modesty, cosmopolitanism and patriotism, the ut-most professional dedication to ethics and medical ethics and the practical application of ethical, moral and value ideals in his private life. Through his personality and work he uniquely blended scientific erudition, ethics and the highest values on the path to truth and good-ness. The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the pinnacle of Slo-venia’s intellectual elite, can be proud to have had such a person as president. We, the members and associates of the Institute for Ethics, were greatly honoured by his presence and support. The Institute was renamed the Jože Trontelj Institute for Ethics and Values – an institu-tion which was first established as the Institute for the Study of Ethics and Values (IEV) thanks to his efforts, and which operated under his presidency until his sudden and painful passing. At present, the Insti-tute that bears his name operates as an independent institution.

In addition to his globally important scientific work, Prof. Trontelj left us an immense, almost unbelievable legacy from his public activi-ties in numerous other areas. However, his longstanding work in the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the National Medical Ethics Committee should be mentioned again. This area of his work is mentioned in the other contributions. I would like to mention his extensive work in the areas of ethics, values and morals, which, in par-ticular over the last two decades, attained an unimaginable scope: the

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numbers alone are imposing while the profoundness of his carefully prepared texts for many important occasions is even more impressive. This work of his includes hundreds of texts, articles, lectures, speech-es, opening speeches, interviews and other media contributions.

Academician Trontelj did indeed increasingly dedicate his undeni-able authority and his great human, professional and scientific riches to wider issues of ethics, values and morals in Slovenian and global so-ciety. Particularly in his final years, he increasingly underlined the need for the ethical enhancement and consolidation of Slovenian society and society in general. In taking this path, although he was not always sincerely supported and approved by wider social factors, he also met like-minded people in Slovenia, at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and among many of most established and distinguished ex-perts throughout the world.

He based his work on a common awareness that the gap between ethical standards and values on the one hand and actual actions taken by individuals and groups on the other hand had reached and exceed-ed the critical limit and that this situation needed to be changed. We cannot imagine a stable society without knowledge and, in particular, without high ethical standards and values, since all the worst negative phenomena troubling mankind arise from the gap between values and actual actions, including violence, wars, corruption, crime, ignorance, exploitation, hunger and poverty. In this context, Academician Trontelj saw the need for an active contribution from the highest intellectual institutions in Slovenia and at a global level towards the creation of a stable society of the future which should be a society of high values and knowledge and through these, a society of wisdom and well-being. In his role of President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, he personally and professionally invested his efforts in establishing the Institute for Ethics, over which he presided until his premature death.

A comprehensive programme of work at the Institute for Ethics and Values had been carefully planned and implemented, with initiatives

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and support provided by Jože Trontelj. If we are to find a way out of the moral crisis of the modern world, it is crucial that we not only have an understanding of ethical standards and values, but also develop the firm determination of the individual and his behavioural intentions to act in compliance with ethical standards and values. This involves the development of ethical behavioural intentions, which is a very impor-tant stage in the ethical and moral development of an individual and the development of his or her values. The basis for ethical behaviour is acquired in early life, partly even in the pre-school period, by encoura-ging empathy, a sense of fairness, compassion for other people and a willingness to help others. We should not miss the opportunity to provide this kind of encouragement in the early years of life, and it is of paramount importance that we teach children ethics and values in the early years of their education and upbringing.

That is why Jože Trontelj strove for the greater integration of va-lues and ethical standards in education and for greater support to nursery teachers and teachers in carrying out their educational mi s-sion. He stressed that this was a mission that presupposed high ethi-cal standards and awareness of values. He regarded nursery teach-ers, teachers and professors as important generators of the idea that, through increased integration of ethical standards and values in edu-cation, we would create conditions for the long-term transition of modern society to a stable society of knowledge and values, a society based on prosperity, happiness and wisdom. Thanks to him, this idea had grown into a social project to be implemented in Slovenia and elsewhere by means of European and world connections and institu-tions in which Prof. Trontelj actively participated with his creativity and drive and by which he was held in high esteem. He took the view that this idea and project were worthy not only of attention from our society and the wider world, but also of the express and tangible engagement of the supreme spiritual, mental and moral potentials of the modern world.

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Jože Trontelj rightly associated the implementation of efforts in the field of ethical standards and values in education with the very essence of the teacher’s mission, and regarded these efforts as the founda-tion for restoring and enhancing the standing of the work of nursery teachers and teachers in our society, which had failed for some time to devote sufficient attention to this significant pillar of its own strength. Accordingly, in September 2013, Prof. Trontelj, together with the Slo-venian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Institute for Ethics and Values, and under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia, organised a large conference of heads of elementary schools and kindergartens on the topic of incorporating values into education, which was held at Brdo pri Kranju. The conference, attended by over 450 principals, teachers and nursery teachers from all over Slovenia and prominent experts from Slovenia and abroad, marked the start of direct implementation of the project of integration of ethical standards and values into education, a project that has already proceeded to the next stages of its development. The project is now in its third year of intensive operation.

Let me conclude by quoting the words of Jože Trontelj, which we may follow on our path forward: »If you found yourselves (as in a vision of the apocalypse) on the last continent or on a survival island, what would you write in its constitution? You will fear the scenario repeating itself, this time with an even more hopeless effect. And you will also fear sliding into a new form of totalitarianism. Where will you seek solutions? The first will be flawless science, which will not be allowed to be abused. It will show the effects of human impacts on nature and possible ways out of the ecological crisis or at least ways to prevent its deterioration. The second will be ethics, which will ensure that there will be no abuses. And above all, it will show the need for education. The third will be virtues and values. Respect for human dignity and compassionate care for other people will rank high among them. Re-sponsible care for the other living things on the Earth will also rank

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high. And on top of all this, there will be wisdom, without which there is no good, far-sighted leadership.«

Our task is to fight our way to these three solutions and implement them, thereby avoiding the apocalypse. This was something Jože Tron-telj was acutely aware of. He faithfully pursued this task to the end of his life. And his legacy imposes a duty on the next generations to follow suit.

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Tone Žakelj

In Memory of Jože Trontelj, a Colleague, Researcher and Friend

In the spring of 1983, I began my traineeship for the position of neurophysiological assistant at the laboratory for sensory encepha-lography at the Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana. I was met with a reception that was com-pletely unexpected: the people, my future colleagues, were friendly and homely and greeted me with genuine affection.

In a bright, miniature office, filled with piles of books and papers, which made it look even smaller, I was introduced to Associate Profes-s or Jože Trontelj. Until that point, I had never met him in person, and I only knew that he was a distinguished and internationally recognised neurophysiologist. I approached him with undisguised awe. Prof. Tron-telj sensed my embarrassment and quickly tried to get me out of it by saying: »We are all on a first-name basis here. Tone, I am Jože.« It goes without saying that he then had to correct me several times, as I simply could not bring myself to call him by his first name.

Shortly after I had started my job, he called me to his office as he had noted that I had been writing my reports using simple language and avoiding medical jargon and unnecessary foreign words. This is how we discovered that we both shared the love of our mother tongue and our excitement over Latin. Our bond of friendship deepened and became permanent during the two four-month periods when I was his neurophysiological assistant in Kuwait.

After my first Kuwaiti experience, Jože – by that time, I had no more problems calling him by his first name – unofficially redeployed me from the laboratory to the post of administrative technical assistant at

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the research work group in the field of neurobiology, of which he was the head. I then became more closely involved in his research work, which he carried out in the same way as he did everything else – with diligence, attention to detail and effort, and in a productive manner.

I think that time was a golden era of research at the Institute: doctors radiated determination, both in research and other areas, to achieve collective and individual success, and knew how to motivate their col-leagues – engineers, assistants, technicians and administrators to fol-low suit. Back then, the following principle applied, established by the Institute's founder Prof. Dimitrijević, also a member of the Academy (who unfortunately cannot be present today): you should do routine work in an academic manner, as this will enable you to obtain data for research, which will, in turn, enrich and improve your routine work.

All colleagues had flexible working hours – if necessary, we worked in the afternoon and even at night. We were guinea pigs, sketchers, photographers, typists, printers, language editors, analysts, welders, carpenters; everyone knew a little bit of everything and helped to the best of their abilities. As the head of the group, Jože appreciated every-one's commitment and contribution and rewarded them to the extent of his capabilities. He could not take us on a trip, perhaps even abroad, as had been the case when Prof. Dimitrijević was in charge, but as the head of the group he still had the power to reward his colleagues.

That was when we got our first personal computers and our re-search sphere was overtaken by a wave of the »publish or perish« cul-ture – and along with it, bibliometrics. Jože, however, did not succumb to it; by his example and with his words, he encouraged his fellow re-searchers to do work that was worth publishing and not to publish only for the sake of gaining points.

As a renowned researcher, Jože also sat on various committees, commissions and other bodies in charge of the research policy in health or even the health policy itself. He considered this to be his duty, but soon learned that reason and aspiration for justice in these commit-

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tees were tools far weaker than political and bureaucratic ones, which he lacked or did not want to use. Accordingly, his role there was more that of being physically present than anything else.

He loved a clear, well-thought-out and honest language. He did not appreciate one feigning ignorance, hiding one's real thoughts by us-ing »linguistic gymnastics« and sweet talk, beating around the bush or making decisions without a good analysis. He himself once wrote: »Listening to measured, clearly articulated speech in a beautiful lan-guage is like breathing in fresh, clear air. Unfortunately, there has re-cently been a considerable lack of both – clear speech and clear air.« He could not understand how it was that, at one point, there were too many doctors, then, at another, too few of them, and then again too many of them. He was annoyed with fellow European scientists who wanted to find a special name for a human embryo created by cloning techniques, only to ease their conscience when they later treated it as an object in their research. He smiled at Eurocrats, who refused to pay a bill because it was titled invoice and not cost statement, as was deemed correct at the time. And he had a good laugh when he found out one day that he no longer worked at the Institute of Clinical Neu-rophysiology but at the Clinical Institute of Clinical Neurophysiology.

He was aware that a new tool needed to be developed, an evalua-tion system whereby the performance of research groups could be ob-jectively measured, which would be one of the criteria for their fund-ing. He advocated, to the greatest extent possible, simplicity, honesty and justice. Jože participated in the development of a system of this kind, reaching consensus with colleagues from other research groups in medicine on the expert system that was based on the bibliographic database Biomedicina Slovenica.

However, over the years, administration, which was inexorably turn-ing into bureaucracy and red tape, had increasingly taken power from the hands of group heads. Jože could do absolutely nothing about it, knowing that any efforts to reverse that trend would be as pointless as

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a child’s efforts to remove water from the ocean with a watering can. He was sorry to see that research work in medicine was claimed to be desirable, while in reality it was hyper-regulated and, consequently, se-riously hampered. The academic consideration of a patient’s condition had long ceased to be at the forefront of attention, to be superseded by clinical pathways, some sort of conveyors in the health industry. The former expert system for measuring science in medicine has been outdone by bibliometrics, a universal, computer-based set of methods applicable to all kinds of sciences, but comprehensible only to a few.

Disappointed at this turn of events, Jože backed away as much as possible from the leading circles of this kind and from science in his last years.

Instead, he fully focused on ethics and its most powerful aspects – reason, which is not driven by mathematics or computer science, but rather by empathy for other people, in particular the suffering and vulnerable, belief in human dignity and the sacredness of life, efforts for justice, a life of virtues and values, and clear and honest language. In this field, he was second to none, an authority that will be hard to replace.

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Janez Trontelj

Memory of my Brother Jože

Jože and I were bosom friends from our childhood. Jože was two years older than me. We used to go to the woods to pick blueberries and strawberries. Together with our seven years older brother we spent our school vacations at our grandparents’ farm. By their farm house a brook was running where we started to catch fish and eventu-ally became experienced fishermen. Fishing remained Jože’s hobby to the end of his life.

After finishing his medical studies he joined the Institute of Clini-cal Neurophysiology in Ljubljana and there he enthusiastically devoted most of his time to the research activity. He needed various instru-ments not available in the institute at that time. I was a teaching as-sistant at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering having almost no equip-ment, my laboratory was almost empty and there was no money to buy anything. We were both enthusiasts and willing to create something. We both invested our own money to purchase small tools and elec-tronic components and we created original and advanced measuring equipment which enabled Jože and his associates to rise to the peak of research activity. The achieved results published in papers attracted the attention of the international community of the professionals.

I remember Jože bringing thin electrodes with a tiny active area (a few micrometres) from Sweden and we started to set up a method to sense and record a single muscle fibre potential. We improved the method and constructed a robust measurement system allowing at that time an incredible accuracy of occurrence of the single muscle potential. The time measurement was in the order of one millionth of a second with a resolution of 0.1 microsecond (light travels 30 meters in that time). This took place in the middle of the seventies. I was sur-

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prised that such fast phenomena happen in the human body. It turned out that such accurate measurement is required for a diagnostic.

Together with our oldest brother Lojze we created a measurement system which included an electrical stimulator designed and assem-bled by ourselves, input and output units for the first processing com-puter at that time.

The electrical stimulator had a rich number of features including some unique functions surpassing commercial stimulators for decades. It operated reliably all the time.

It seems incredible today what we were able to do with the com-puter comprising only 8 Kbytes of memory and 16 Kbytes of ferrite rings program memory. The program was entered manually with a string of commands by mechanical switches, each representing one bit of the machine command code. The program storage was punched teleprinter paper tape.

This was a unique pioneer system. Therefore I was invited as a guest to several excellent institutions at East and West Coast of the USA, presenting the original technical solutions and received many compli-ments.

I followed Jože’s work in the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and I was given the privilege to read texts for his public appear - a nces. I was thrilled by his outstanding reasoning and at the same time by his modesty. He was selfless and generous and he always refused to accept any payment for his texts and public appearances. When he received it anyway he always donated it to charity.

I am convinced that the medical science lost an outstanding medi-cal doctor and an excellent scientist. As the president of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Jože left an indelible and unrepeatable mark.

We miss him very much.

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O avtorjih prispevkov

Akad. Tadej Bajd je predsednik Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti.

Dr. Erik Stålberg je zaslužni profesor klinične nevrofiziologije na uppsalski univerzi in dopisni član SAZU.

Dr. Donald B. Sanders je nevrolog, profesor medicine na Duke Uni-versity Medical Center v Durhamu, North Carolina, ZDA.

Dr. Milan R. Dimitrijević je redni profesor za nevrologijo in pred-stojnik oddelka za fizikalno medicino in rehabilitacijo, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Teksas, ZDA, in dopisni član SAZU.

Dr. Janez Zidar je izredni profesor na Medicinski fakulteti v Ljubljani in nekdanji predstojnik Kliničnega oddelka Inštituta za klinično nevrofi-ziologijo, UKC Ljubljana.

Dr. Božidar Voljč je specialist družinske medicine v pokoju in sveto-valec SAZU za javno zdravstvo, zdravstveno gerontologijo in medgene-racijsko sožitje ter predsednik Komisije RS za medicinsko etiko.

Dr. Janek Musek je redni profesor za občo psihologijo in svetova-lec SAZU na področju psihologije osebnosti in etičnih vrednot v šolski vzgoji.

Tone Žakelj je strokovni sodelavec Inštituta za klinično nevrofiziolo-gijo na Inštitutu za klinično nevrofiziologijo, Univerzitetni klinični cen-ter Ljubljana.

Dr. Janez Trontelj je redni profesor na Katedri za mikroelektronske tehnologije Fakultete za elektrotehniko v Ljubljani.

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A Word on the Authors

Prof. Dr. Tadej Bajd, President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Dr. Erik Stålberg, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Neurophysiology at the University of Uppsala, Corresponding Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Dr. Donald B. Sanders, Neurologist, Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Dr. Milan R. Dimitrijević, Full Professor of Neurology and Head of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA, Corresponding Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Dr. Janez Zidar, Associate Professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Med-icine and former Chair of the Clinic Department of the Institute of Clini-cal Neurophysiology at the Ljubljana University Clinic.

Dr. Božidar Voljč, retired general practitioner and Adviser of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts for public healty, medical geron-tology and intergenerational relations, President of the Republic of Slovenia National Medical Ethics Commitee.

Dr. Janek Musek, Full Professor of General Psychology and Adviser of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the fields of person-a lity psychology and ethics in education

Tone Žakelj, Expert Associate of the Institute of Clinical Neurophysio-logy at the Neurology Division of the Ljubljana University Clinic.

Dr. Janez Trontelj, Full Professor at the Chair of Microelectronic Technologies of the Ljubljana Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

ISBN 978-961-268-036-7

Zbornik v spomin na akademika Jožeta TrontljaPrispevki s srečanja v spomin na akademika Jožeta Trontlja

The Jože Trontelj Memorial ProceedingsAddresses from the Jože Trontelj Memorial

Urednik:Uroš Skalerič

Zbiranje gradiva in lektura:Veronika Simoniti

Pregled angleškega prevoda:Špela Truden

Fotografije: Barbara Jakše Jeršič, Marko Zaplatil

Izdala:Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti

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Prelom in tisk:Designpro d.o.o.

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in umetnosti




ISBN 978-961-268-036-7

a J rontl t Zbornik v spomin na akademika Jožeta … Academy of Sciences and Arts / [urednik Uroš...

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Transcript of a J rontl t Zbornik v spomin na akademika Jožeta … Academy of Sciences and Arts / [urednik Uroš...