Vera Šnajder

Vera Šnajder (née Popović, 1904–1976) was a Bosnian mathematician known for being the first Bosnian to publish a mathematical research paper and the first female dean in Yugoslavia.[1]

Šnajder was born on 2 February 1904, in Reljevo, one of the neighborhoods of Sarajevo; her father directed an Orthodox seminary. She began her university studies at the University of Belgrade in 1922, and graduated in 1928. She took a position as a schoolteacher at a girl's gymnasium in Sarajevo,[1] and married Marcel Šnajder, a Jewish philosopher who at that time was working at the same school.[2]

From 1929 to 1932 she traveled to Paris for advanced work in mathematics. It was during this time that she published her paper, the first mathematics paper written by a Bosnian.[1] Entitled Sur l’extension de la méthode de Hele Shaw aux mouvements cycliques (The extension of Hele-Shaw's method to cyclic movements), the publication appeared in the journal Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences in 1931, under the name V. Popovitch-Schneider, and concerned fluid dynamics.

After returning from Paris, Šnajder worked as a schoolteacher again.[1] Her husband was killed by the Nazis in 1941.[2] When the University of Sarajevo was founded in 1949, Šnajder became a faculty member. There, she first served as dean in 1951. She died on February 14, 1976, in Sarajevo.[1]

The Vera Šnajder Award was launched in her honor by Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation.[3] The award is given every year in the form of a travel grant to an outstanding student of natural/technical sciences in Bosnia and Herzegovina (undergraduate, master's or doctoral studies).