Birth and childhood
When, on April 20, 1871, in the small Slovakian town of Liptovsky sv. Mikula, a son was born to the senior cadaster engineers of the Monarchy, one Franjo Penkala – Polish by nationality, and his wife Maria, née Hannel, from Holland, nobody could have dreamt that the name of Penkala was to become famous world wide.
Later on, when he fell in love with Zagreb, Eduard – as his parents named him – Croatized his name to Slavoljub.
From his earliest years Penkala demonstrated his interest in natural and technical sciences: physics, chemistry, theoretical and practical mechanics, and their practical application.
According to his own words there was not a clock in the house which he did not take apart in order to see how the tiny cogged wheels worked. When his stunned mother would find him dismantling a clock, she would give him a good scolding, and then he would calmly put the clock back together – and it would work just as well as it did before. He also frequently removed the locks of desk drawers, driven by his curiosity to learn exactly how a key moved within the lock.
And while his peers spent their time playing, little Eduard would while away his hours in his “workshop” or out of doors in nature, where he was able to discover many things. He was particularly enthralled by birds and butterflies. And understanding and emulating their ability to fly was to become his life's dream.
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