Muhamed Riđanović was born on January 30, 1930. in Čapljina (then: Kingdom of Yugoslavia). He started his primary education in Mostar and finished it in Sarajevo. He graduated from the second men's gymnasium, (today the Second gymnasium) in 1948 in Sarajevo. He continued his education at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Belgrade, where he graduated in 1954 from the Department of Hydraulic Engineering. 

Along with high school and engineering studies, he studied and played music. He was very gifted and he graduated from the Lower Music School in Sarajevo in 1946, the Secondary Music School in Belgrade in 1951 and attended the Music Academy in Belgrade in the period from 1951 to 1954. He was a member of the Belgrade Opera Orchestra (1951-1954) and a permanent member of the Sarajevo Philharmonic (1954-1983). He played the violin.

He was a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Sarajevo, in the subject of Hydraulics from 1955 to 1963. In that period (1958/59) he participated in model testing of hydrotechnical phenomena in the Hydraulic Laboratory of the ‘Jaroslav Černi’ Institute in Belgrade, and later studied at the University of Iowa, United States and obtained a master's degree in hydraulics (1960) and a Ph.D. in technical sciences (1963).

After returning from the United States, he came to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo, where he worked as an assistant professor from 1963, associate professor from 1967 and a professor from 1973 at the departments of this Faculty in Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka. He also taught at the faculties of electrical engineering. Since 1965, he was lecturing on the Mechanics of Continuous Environments at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Sarajevo. In parallel with full-time teaching, he also taught at the postgraduate study in Sarajevo and Belgrade. For three school years, as a technical assistance expert (1968–1971), he taught Fluid Mechanics at the Technical Faculty of the University of Khartoum - Sudan.

Realizing the importance of pracitcal teaching and research infrastructure, Muhamed Riđanović enthusiastically engaged in the design and construction of experimental polygons and procurement of modern measurement equipment for pedagogical and research needs (portable wind tunnel, cavitation tunnel, air-jet table, Rauz's precision manometer). He realized his visions and projects mainly in the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo, whose associate he was continuously since 1955, thus creating the first modern experimental base in fluid mechanics in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For a long time, he was the head of the Department of Energy at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sarajevo and the Fluid Mechanics Group of the Department of Hydrotechnics, vice president of the Yugoslav Society for Rational and Applied Mechanics, president of the Federation of Mechanics of Yugoslavia, president of the Society of Mechanics of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, member of the International Society for Hydraulic Research of the United States and the European Society for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.  

Muhamed Riđanović was the first in the territory of Yugoslavia to introduce the subject of Fluid Mechanics, a necessary basis for the study of hydrotechnical problems, as well as problems in mechanical engineering.

Muhamed Riđanović's research activity covers a broad field of mechanics, especially turbulence and transport phenomena with application in mechanical engineering, energy, construction and architecture. His scientific and professional opus includes over 60 research papers, mostly related to his work in the Department of Hydraulic Engineering. A number of scientific publications had a significant impact in scientific literature, such as his method of calculating the boundary layer and the resistance of oscillating bodies in a fluid, Drag coefficients of flat plates oscillating normally to their planes (1962), which is listed in the book Kačka korablja (Semeon et al., 1969) as the “Riđanović method” for calculating ship stabilizers. His Ph.D. dissertation “Wake with zero change of momentum flux” (1963) and “Transformation of turbulent energy in cases of free turbulence flow” received the award of the Yugoslav Society for Hydraulic Research in 1966.

He left a particularly significant impact on works dedicated to hydrodynamic problems of water protection, with a focus on research of processes in karst reservoirs, their thermal stratification and the impact on water quality, its mixing and capture. In this area, the publications “Hydrodynamics of stratified flows” (1971), “Capacity of karst reservoirs for absorption of heat flux of solar radiation” (1975), “Turbulent transport processes in inhomogeneous fluid” (1976), “Destratification of thermally stratified accumulations” (1977) and “Entrainment across a density interface in reservoirs in quasi-turbulent conditions” (1977) very impactful.

He was also interested in the field of architectural aerodynamics, especially the dynamic behaviour of buildings under the influence of wind. The determination of aerodynamic effects on a polygonal cross-section cylinder and others, based on laboratory research of object models, resulted in bases for forecasting wind effects on high objects exposed to extreme conditions, which were applied in the calculation and design of some newer TV and PTT towers in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

He wrote several important books which, with their originality, modern approach, methodology and style, were also utilised by universities outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. All this, as well as the selfless help he provided to newer university centres, especially the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering in Mostar, gave him the reputation of the founder of modern fluid mechanics as a scientific and engineering discipline in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• 1966 - He received the award of the Yugoslav Society of Hydraulics

• 1974 - Award of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina "Veselin Masleša" for the book "Hydrodynamics".

• 1982 - The July 27 award of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for great scientific contribution

• He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1975, and a full member in 1981.

• One street in Sarajevo, in the Pofalići area, was named after him.

"Professor Riđanović possessed all the positive qualities of a scientist-researcher (honesty, ability to attract associates to study a given issue and direct them, with unobtrusive help and encouragement; ease of communication; respect for everyone's work, etc.). In that period, in the field of fluid mechanics, a significant and recognized scientific research staff was formed in BiH and beyond", writes Bajraktarević-Dobran Haša, who was mentored by professor Riđanović during the preparation of her master's thesis in 1979. 

Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation would like to thank the following individuals and organisations for the contributions to this tribute page:

Emela Devedzic and Dr. Eddie Custovic

1.     “Oslobođenje - Pioniri hidrotehnike u BiH: Profesor mehanike fluida sa violinom,” https://www.oslobodjenje.ba/magazin/tehnologija/nauka/profesor-mehanike-fluida-s-violinom-365577 (accessed 02.07.2021.) 

2. “Klix forum - Bošnjački izumitelji, naučnici i “tehno-glavonje”, https://forum.klix.ba/bosnjacki-izumitelji-naucnici-i-tehno-glavonje-t105842.html (accessed 17.11.2021.)

3. “Matematički modeli turbulentnih transportnih procesa. Zbornik radova u spomen akademiku Muhamedu Riđanoviću - Mathematical Models of Turbulent Transport Processes. Collection of Papers Devoted to academician Muhamed Ridjanovic”, Aleksandar Trumić, 1984, Posebna izdanja LXVI, knj. 13.,
Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine

4. WAKE WITH ZERO CHANGE OF MOMENTUM FLUX RIDJANOVIC, MUHAMED, The University of Iowa. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1963. 6403420.