Milutin Milankovich is best remembered for formulating the orbital or astronomical variation theory of climatic change in the 1930s. The Milankovich theory, as it is known, proposes that as the Earth travels through space, three distinct cyclic movements combine to cause variations in the amount of sunlight that falls on the planet. These variations, according to the theory, are what produce changes in the ebb and flow of ice fields. Most of the scientist's best efforts were aimed at reconstructing Earth's and the other planets' past climates.

Milankovich was born on May 28, 1879 in the town of Dalj, near Osijek, Croatia (then Austria-Hungary). After receiving a degree in 1902 from the School of Civil Engineering for a thesis on building a bridge using reinforced concrete, Milankovich finished his doctorate in 1904 at the Institute of Technology. The following year, he joined a prestigious civil engineering firm in Vienna and began working...