Radiol Oncol 1994; 28: 64-6.
On the 70th birthday of Professor Dr. Ludvik Tabor
Professor Dr Ludvik Tabor a distinguished radilogist who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, has made an important contribution to the development of Slovenian radiology over a period of almost four decades. Bom in Ljubljana, where in 1951 he obtained his M. D. at the Medical Faculty, he early decided to specialise in radiology, this somewhat less attractive area, and passed his Board specialist Exam in 1957. His academic interests became apparent soon after moving to the Radiology Institute at the Clinical Hospitals of Ljubljana when his first professional articles were published at home and abroad. In 1964 he was appointed Assistant Professor of radiology at the Medical Faculty of Ljubljana. His thesis on "Genital Tuberculosis in Women and the Problem of Modem Radiological Diagnostics" was used for years by radiologists as an important textbook in
their preparation for B Exams. In 1970, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Radiological Clinical Study of Congenital Anomalies of the Spine and Potential Disabili-■ ty", and he was the first to obtain a D. Sc. degree in radiology of Slovenia. He remained faithful to osteoarticular radiology to the end of his professional carrer. In 1974 he was elected an Associate Professor, and in 1978 became a Professor of radiology at the Medical Faculty of Ljubljana. In the academic years 1977/78 and 1978/79 he was Deputy Dean and for 13 years - from 1981 until his retirement -head of the Chair of Radiology. As a teacher and lecturer, he shared his knowledge with many generations of medical and stomatology students as well as students at the Department for Radiographers at the Medical Workers College in Ljubljana. Also important was his educational and tutorial work with specialists in radiology, particulary in the osteoarticular field.
He continued his education at a number of foreign institutions: the Cochin Hospital in Paris, the Orthopaedic Clinic of St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital, Institute of Radiology at the Zii-rich Cantonal Hospital and the Institutes for Radiology of Bonn and Tiibingen.
Dr Tabor focused his professional interest on radiologycal diagnosticst of osteoarticular diseases, particularly in the area of orthopaedics, haematology, osteoarticular injuries, and radiology in gynaecology and stomatology. Some of his most important research works are in the field of radiological diagnostics of genital tuberculosis in women (his assistant professor thesis), research of congenital anomalies of the spine and potential disability (doctoral thesis), research on the injuries to the axial skeleton and the possibilities of modem radiological diagnostics, and research on the importance of limpho-graphy in gynaecology. His extensive biblio-
On the 7rJ" birthday of Professor Dr Ludvik Tabor
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graphy includes 131 professional articles published in national and foreign journals, and 14 scientific research works. He has published three books independently, and further two as a co-author an organiser and lecturer he participated at many congresses and meetings of radiologists, orthopaedists and traumatologists in Slovenia as well as in numerous European and international centres.
He has been a permanent associate in the field of archeology at the National Museum of Ljubljana and the Regional Museum of Koper since 1970. He conducted three studies: "Anthropological, Anatomical and Pathoanatomical Representation of Skeletons From Burial Chambers in the Original Parish of St Lawrence Church on Monte di Buja - an Attempt to Present the Problem" (1986), "Anthropological, Anatomical and Pathoanatomical Representation of Skeletons from Burial Chambers in the Vicinity of Udine Castle" (1988) and "Anatomical and Pathoanatomical Study of Skeletons from Graves and Burial Chambers in the Former Parish of St Clare's Church in Koper" (1991).
Dr Tabor actively participated in the founding and all phases of development of the Institute for Radiology of the Clinical Centre in Ljubljana, the leading institution of its kind in the country. In 1976, together with Italian colleagues, he helped to establish the Alps-Adriatic community which resulted in regular annual meetings of radiologists from Italy, Austria and Slovenia. He was a co-founder, and from 1976 to 1981, Editor-in-chief of the journal RADIOLOGIA IUGOSLAVICA. Between 1958-1969 he presided over the Section for Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the Slovenian Medical Society. For many years he was secretary-General of the Yugoslav Association of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine.
He was a member of the International Society of Limphography, the European and International Association of Radiologists, Slovenian Medical Society, Radiology Department at the Slovenian Medical Society, Yugoslav Association of Radiologists and the Yugoslav Association of Orthopaedists and Traumatologists. He
is an honorary member of the Yugoslav Society of Senior Radiographers.
He has received many awards for his work; a Golden Plaque from the Yugoslav Association of Medical Societies (1971), an award from the Medical Faculty of Ljubljana (1978), a Silver Plaque form the Yugoslav Association of Orthopaedists and Traumatologists (1981), the Order of Labour with Gold Wreath (1980), a Gold Plaque from the Yugoslav Association of Orthopaedists and Traumatologists (1981), a Plaque from the Yugoslav Association of Radiologists (1988) and an Award from the Orthopaedic Clinic (1993).
No description of the profilic life and work of Ludvik Tabor could be complete without mentioning his painting, which has ben been gaining in importance by the time passing. He has exhibited a part of his extensive colleciton of water colours in 23 independent and 30 group exhibitions. With all probability, it is the painting that has enabled him to sucessfully escape the constraints inevitably imposed by a successful career in medicine and enter a world of absolute freedom, to which he often refers by saying that the only profession that ensures absolute independence is that of a simple farmer; as if seeking in the colours of nature and his watercolors a substitute for the years of life spent among the grey and black of the Radiological profession. Dr Tabor's attitude towards nature and art is perhaps most faithfully reflected in the following statements of his: "Art is an unlimited record of the expansiveness of spiritual comprehension and a feeling for everything that nature unselfishly offers. What could be more inviting than a record of the Credo of life to Nature, records of the colouring of the light and shade of the personally experienced and witnessed, a record of an ever-present fortissimo, crescendo and pianissimo in the rhythm of nature. In the face of today's consumer-oriented, trying to find happiness amassing material goods and ephemeral pleasures and incapable of experiencing inner peace, the only escape left to those still capable of thinking and acting differently is to run for the cover of what nature can still provide. Some wonder at this,
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On the 70'h birthday of Professor Dr Ludvik Tabor
unable to understand why more and more people from all walks of life dedicate their free time to the fine and other arts. The answer is simple: Given what modem civilisation of tihs angst-riddctn world offers or simply forces upon us, the arts offer a sanctuary where one can recover and rebuilds one's shattered spirituality. The arts and nature are a source of opportunities, a gift to prevent man from simply surrendering and drowning in the time we live in."
When he decided to retire in 1993, Ludvik Tabor had many plans for the future. First of all, to compile his vast professional experience
and condense it in a book entitled "Where, When and How in Radiological Skeletal Diagnostics". He wanted to compile in one place the answers to the key questions constantly facing radiologists. The illness he has learnt to live with and control has unfortunately prevented him, as yet, from achieving this goal. Slovenian radiologists would like to convey their most warmest congratulations to Ludvik Tabor on the occarion of his 70th birthday, and wish him to retain his inspiration and life energy.
Prof. Dr Vladimir Jevtic