Baron Ivo Benko von Boinik
Imperial and Royal Captain of the Line
Among the astronomers who served at the Naval Observatory in Pula after Johann Palisa, the most significant is Ivo Benko.
Born on September 26, 1851, in Karlovac. He was admitted to the Austrian Navy on July 27, 1868, as a student of the Naval Academy in Rijeka. He entered service on April 28, 1872, with the rank of Ensign. He served on the ships "Helgoland", "Adria", and "Kerka". In 1884/1885, he temporarily served as the director of the Naval Observatory in Pula. He became enthusiastic about scientific work and proved himself as an excellent observer. Encouraged by this, he enrolled in extraordinary studies of astronomy in Graz.
Until 1893, he served on the ships "Lissa", "Minerva", "Custoza", "Zriny", "Don Juan", "Laudon", "Radetzky", and "Taurus", when, after the death of the director of the Naval Observatory Franz Laschober, he took over that service.
Realizing that the scientific program at the Observatory could not continue with discoveries like those made by Johann Palisa, Benko developed a program of systematic observations, and for that purpose, he had the meridian circle and other instruments restored. Benko published the works that arose during his ten-year management of the Naval Observatory in the then-leading astronomical journal "Astronomische Nachrichten", as well as in the journal "Astronomische Rundschau", published by astronomer Leo Brenner from the "Manora" Observatory in Mali Lošinj.
Ivo Benko stepped down from the position of director of the Naval Observatory in 1901 due to health problems. However, a single observation on February 4, 1898, by which he proved that the Earth does not have a second, dark, natural satellite, secured him a place in the history of astronomy.
The asteroid discovered from the Višnjan Observatory was named in his honor: (9814) Ivobenko.
The first Croatian professional astronomer passed away on December 21, 1903, in Gorizia.
Oton Kučera, a Croatian astronomer at whose initiative the observatory in Zagreb was built in 1903, writes about Benko:
"He remained a faithful and devoted son to his Croatian people until his death, who honored its name in the world with his work. He followed the circumstances in his homeland with keen interest. Allow me to present this sketch. When he learned in February 1901 that the Croatian high school student Dolanski had independently discovered a new star in Perseus, that news greatly rejoiced him, so he urged me in a letter to definitely publish it in "Astronomische Nachrichten", which I did (Astr. Nach. No. 3699 of 1901). "It will not hurt," he writes, "if the astronomical world learns that eyes are sometimes turned to the celestial vault in our homeland too, and that education in it stands at such a high level"."