Branimir Makanec
Branimir Makanec (born 1932, Koprivnica, Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia)) was a pioneer of computer popularization in Croatia.
In 1968, Makanec established the Multimedia Center of the Zagreb University Referral Center (MMC). The MMC was an open type computer center intended to be used for non-numerical purposes. The MMC was equipped with a Hewlett-Packard HP 2000 Time-Sharing BASIC system, computer terminals, and teleprinter. The MMC, during nearly twenty years of existence, gave thousands of children and students an opportunity to learn programming and socialise with people of similar interests.
Makanec graduated from the Electrotechnical Faculty in Zagreb in 1961.
Establishing a cybernetics group at the university in 1962, he designed a TIOSS (remote self-organizing system) robot prototype that displayed rudimentary AI behaviour like handing out the pamphlets to public.
In 2003, the Croatian Ministry of Education and Science awarded Makanec the lifetime technical achievement award "Faust Vrancic".