Dragoslav D. Šiljak

He is best known for developing the mathematical theory and methods for control of complex dynamic systems characterized by large-scale, information structure constraints and uncertainty.

Thaler, a lecturer at Santa Clara University who convinced the Dean of Engineering Robert Parden to extend an invitation to Šiljak.

He collaborated with Sherman Selzer in the Astrionics Laboratory of NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center to design the navigation and control systems for the Saturn V Large Booster that propelled the 1969 Apollo 11 lunar mission.

[8] In the 1980s, Šiljak and his collaborators developed a large number of new and highly original concepts and methods for the decentralized control of uncertain large-scale interconnected systems.

The principle described the process of expansion and contraction of dynamic systems that serve the purpose of rewriting overlapping decompositions as disjoint, which, in turn, allows the standard methods for control design.

This new mathematical entity opened the possibility to include continuous Boolean networks in a theoretical study of gene regulation and modeling of large-scale organic structures.

In that same year he became a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), "for contributions to the theory of nonlinear control and large-scale systems".

[16][17] Šiljak was a member of the national water polo team of Yugoslavia that won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland.