Knowledge without frontiers Knowledge Without Frontiers | Page 58

Rode performing calculations with a slide rule that he made himself.
Personal collection.
Rode’s wallet with business cards showing his previous jobs, and the electronic
lock that he patented. He always carried some dinar, tolar, and dollar bills in his
wallet as well.
Property of the Rode family. Photo: Nebojša Tejić, STA.
USEFUL WOODWORKING
INVENTOR
Rode is the holder or co-holder of 23 patents
in the fields of digital electronics, computer en-
gineering, and metrology, which are used thro-
ughout the world. For example, he patented
the electronic lock and participated in the de-
velopment of GPS-based satellite navigation for
aircraft.
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As a youth, Rode would spend most of his
free time in his uncle’s carpentry workshop,
where he made toys and other useful objects
that his family could not afford to buy. He made
things such as his first pair of skis, teaching aids
for secondary school, the box for a radio recei-
ver, and a slide rule that he used throughout his
university studies. Many years later he would
collaborate on the development of an electronic
version of the tool.