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Ignacy Domeyko (Template:Lang-be, {{lang-pl|Ignacy Domejko, Template:Lang-lt) July 31, 1802 – January 23, 1889, Santiago de Chile) was a famous 19th-century Polish-Lithuanian geologist and mineralogist (born in Imperial Russia, present-day Belarus, former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). He spent part of his life in France and eventually settled in Chile. He is seen as having close ties with several countries countries, and thus in 2002, when UNESCO organized a series of events in his memory, he was referred to as a "citizen of the world".
Life
Domeyko was born in Russian partition of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at Niedźwiadka (Template:Lang-be — Miadzviedka) Manor (Bear Cub Manor), near Nieśwież (Nyasvizh), Nowogródek (Navahradak) district, Minsk Governorate, Imperial Russia (now Karelichy district, Belarus). In his time, he was subject of the Russian Tsar. Domeyko had, however, been brought up in the culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a multicultural entity that had been destroyed shortly before his birth, in the partitions of Poland (the last of which occurred in 1795). For this reason, and because he subsequently spent most of his life in Chile, he is considered a person of national importance to four countries: Belarus, Chile, Lithuania and Poland.
Domeyko studied at Imperial University of Vilna under Jędrzej Śniadecki, and later, at Paris' École des Mines. Involved in Vilna in the Philomathes, a secret student organization dedicated to studying Polish culture and restoring Polish independence, he was a close friend of Adam Mickiewicz, the greatest Polish Romantic poet and Alexander Pushkin's rival as the greatest poet of East-central and Eastern Europe.
After participating in the November 1830 Uprising, an insurrection that sought to revive the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth, in 1831 Domeyko chose to emigrate to France rather than face Russian reprisals. There he obtained the title of an engineer at École des Mines.
In 1838 he left for Chile and lived there for about 50 years until May 22, 1884, when he returned for an extended visit to Europe. He stayed four years in (still partitioned) Poland, receiving an honorary doctorate from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (in the Austrian partition) and touring Europe, then returned to Chile.
Achievements
Domeyko made substantial contributions to mineralogy and the technology of mining, studied several previously unknown minerals, advocated for the civil rights of the native tribal peoples, and was a meteorologist and ethnographer. Domeyko was a professor at a mining college in Coquimbo (La Serena) and later at the University of Chile (Universidad de Chile), of which he was rector for 16 years (1867-83).
Named for him are the mineral Domeykit, the shellfish Nautilus domeykus, the ammonite Amonites domeykanus, asteroid 2784 Domeyko, the Cordillera Domeyko mountain range in the Andes, and the Chilean town of Domeyko.
On the 200th anniversary of Domeyko’s birth, UNESCO declared 2002 to be "Ignacy Domeyko Year." Several commemorative events were held in Chile under the auspices of Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.
Descendants of Domeyko's remain prominent in diverse fields of Chilean life and culture.
References
- ^ CULTURAL BULLETIN 21 (165), Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002
Further reading
- Ignacy Domeyko (1962). Moje podróże: pamiętniki wygnańca (My Travels: Memoirs of an Exile). Wrocław: Ossolineum. Polish language
- Zbigniew Wójcik (1995). Ignacy Domeyko: Litwa, Francja, Chile (Ignacy Domeyko: Lithuania, France, Chile). Wrocław, Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze. ISBN 83-904914-2-7. Polish language
- Małgorzata Kośka (1998). Ignacy Domeyko. Warsaw, "DiG". ISBN 83-7181-062-8. Polish language
- Jadwiga Garbowska, Krzysztof Jakubowski (1995). Ignacy Domeyko: (1802-1889). Warsaw-Lida, Towarzystwo Kultury Polskiej Ziemi Lidzkiej. ISBN 83-901353-6-1. Polish language
- Zdzisław Jan Ryn (1994). Ignacio Domeyko - ciudadano de dos patrias (Ignacy Domeyko - citizen of two fatherlands). Antofagasta, Universidad Catolica del Norte. Portuguese language
- Zdzisław Jan Ryn (2002). Ignacy Domeyko - obywatel świata (Ignacy Domeyko - citizen of the world). Kraków, Jagiellonian University Press. ISBN 83-233-1552-3. review, Polish language
- Paz Domeyko Lea-Plaza. Ignacio Domeyko. La Vida de un Emigrante. Santiago, Chile.2002. Random House Mondadori (Editorial Sudamericana)ISBN 9562621618 Spanish language
- Paz Domeyko. A Life in Exile. Ignacy Domeyko 1802-1889. Sydney, Australia 2005. ISBN 0646447289 }.9. English language. Available from author. See website Paz Domeyko, www.pazdomeyko.com
See also
External links
- Ignacy Domeyko, 1802-1889. A Polish-language website.
- "Ignacy Domeyko – Spiritual Bridge between Poland and Chile." An English-language article about 1999 Polish-Chilean celebrations of Domeyko's legacy.
- Malgorzata Markoff, "Dwie ojczyzny Ignacego Domeyki" ("Ignacy Domeyko's Two Countries"), Przegląd Polski (Polish Review), July 26, 2002. A Polish-language article about Domeyko in the literary supplement to Nowy Dziennik (The New Daily), a Polish-language daily published in New York City.
- Polish-language website of the Ignacy Domeyko Scout Troop. A Polish scout troop, named for Domeyko, maintains his memory.
- "Ігнат Дамейка — светач сусветнай цывілізацыі. (Ignat Dameyka — Luminary of World Civilization)". Матэрыялы VI Карэліцкіх чытанняў.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) Proceedings of a 2002 Belarusian conference about Domeyko.