摘要：The author deals with the life history of prof. dr. se. Josip Balen, his successful professional and scientific career as the University professor and forestory engineer. He was born at Krmpote, county of Novi Vinodolski, and buried at Tucuman, Argentina. The rich and prolific professional and scientific course of Josip Balen was bound to the woods and forestry with the special accent to his scientific, professional and educational work on the University. He graduated his studies on forestry at Banska Šćavnica (Slovakia), worked in various forestry administrations all over Croatia to become in 1919 director of the Inspectorate for the afforestation of karst at Senj. His doctor's dissertation on the cultivation and ecological problems of the karst entitled "Bora and its importance in the afforestation of the Karst", was successfully defended at the Faculty of Forestry, the University of Zagreb, in 1923. It was the first dissertation from the sphere of forestry defended at the University of Zagreb. In 1925 he was transferred to Belgrade at the Ministry of forestry and ores. In 1927 he became the associate professor and in 1930 professor at the Faculty of Forestry, Dept. for growing and cultivation and protection of woods at Zemun. At the same time he published a great number of his professional and scientific works mainly on the cultivation of forests, then six autonomous books of which some of his important works have to be pointed out. Those were "On thins" (1919), "Our bare karst" (1931), "Forestry workers" (1938). After the Indipendent State of Croatia (NDH) was established, he was appointed the counsellor to the Ministry of religious observance and educational system. Afterwards he was appointed a district prefect at the district office about Poglavnik, then the professor at the Faculty of the agriculture and forestry at Zagreb. He was also acting as a director of the Institute for the protection of forests, then held the office of minister at the Ministry for the national economics and after that was appointed the minister of forests and ores. The storms of war took him together with some twelve Croatian forest experts and a lot of other Croatians to Argentina. He assumed there a post of a technical councellor in the Directorate of forests, where he organized and carried through the afforestation with eucalyptuses and poplars on the area of some 50.000 h. In 1956. he was transferred to Chile where he was employed as a professor for the cultivation of forests at a newly opened Faculty of forestry at Valdivia and also as a director of the Forest Insitute at the same city. In 1960 he came back to Argentina and worked as a professor for the cultivation of forests at Faculty of Santiago de Estero, Universitat Nacional de Cordoba. In the same year he founded the first indipendent Faculty of forestry at Tucuman and assumed there a post of the professor at Department for the afforestation. Afterwards he founded also the Forest institute for the afforestation, where he acted as a director. He died in 1964 and was buried with great honours at Tucuman. The contribution of Josip Balen in the development of the forest profession, science and school system, not only in Croatia but in Argentina and Chile as well, was really great. We are quite sure that his contribution to the Croatian and world-wide forestry would be even greater if he was not so violently expelled from his native country Croatia.
