mountains and prehistoric sites - Ivanščica, Ravna Gora, and Vindija Cave. Soon after this, Malez published his first articles in the journals Srednjoškolac and Varaždinske vijesti. Being impressed by the fossil finds, Malez decided to study geology and Paleontology. During his studies, he performed as a demonstrator and an assistant in organizing geological team expeditions, led by Marijan Salopek from the Geological-paleontological Institute of the Faculty. Malez received a B.A. in 1953. and a PhD in 1963, both in geology and palaeontology, from the Faculty of Science, Dept. of Geology, University of Zagreb. He published his first fieldwork reports in 1953. In 1963, his dissertation was on the theme " Stratigraphic and paleontological research of diluvial (Diluvium) sites inside the Veternica cave (Medvednica, near Zagreb). Malez has a daughter Vesna Malez, born in 1949, who is a recognized Croatian scientist of paleornithology at HAZU, currently employed at the Institute for Quaternary Paleontology and Geology, since Jan 1, 2011. Speleological work Since his first research in 1946, Malez has been recognized as a very active and productive speleologist. As a geologist, he worked on various specialised researches into geomorphology, genesis, hydrology, tectonics, palaeontology, archaeology, microclimate, biospeleology and so on. He regularly compiled photographic documentation, which now forms an important professional and historical record. His speleological research covered the now independent states of Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, where he researched about 1000 caves, for the most part in Croatia. Malez published his speleological research regularly, from 1952 until 1974, in the academic publication Ljetopis JAZU. Some notable monographs described the caves of Mount Učka and Mount Ćićarija in Istria, the caves in SW Lika, together with 277 other documented caves, for example, monographs on the Veternica cave near Zagreb and the Cerovačke špilje caves near Gračac. In 1953, he was one of the founders of the magazine Speleolog, the first speleo magazine in Croatia and the former Yugoslavia. He was one of organisers of the Second Speleo Congress in Split in 1958, and also the chief organiser of the Ninth Yugoslavian Speleo Congress, in Karlovac in 1984, for which he was Chief Editor of Proceedings, comprising almost 900 pages. HAZU, an extensive and systematic speleological agency, included Malez among the most prominent speleologists in Croatia. (ed. Roman Ozimec, Hrvoje Cvitanović: Papers on the Institute for scientific research work in Varaždin, Issue 22, 15 HAZU, 2011. 105-106). Professional career