Geo&Bio (Jul 2021)
Scientific achievements of Anthony Andrzejowski (on the 235th anniversary)
Abstract
The article presents an analysis of scientific heritage of the biologist Antoni Andrzejowski (1785–1869), whose name is well known in Ukraine and abroad as a naturalist and a scientist. Antoni Andrzejowski had been cooperating with V. Besser for many years and accompanied him in his trips, he was the first botanist in Kremenets that was born in Volyn, and, at the same time, the first who graduated from the Kremenets Lyceum. His contribution to botanical, zoological, palaeontological, and geological sciences is also recognised, in particular he authored the first geological map of Podillia. The scientist is known primarily for pioneering research on plant diversity: together with W. Besser, he initiated the floristic study of Volyno-Podillia and the Right-Bank Ukraine. He was a traveller, a researcher of the flora, fauna (both modern and fossil) and geology of Podillia, Polissia, the Dnieper, and the Black Sea, as well as the author of a number of original scientific works. During his numerous trips, he collected a variety of scientific materials, including a herbarium, most of which is stored at M. G. Kholodny Institute of Botany NAS of Ukraine. As a taxonomist, he described more than 250 new taxa of vascular plants from 37 families (Brassicaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae Rosaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Lamiaceae, etc.). As an expert of flora and landscape art, A. Andrzejowski took part in the creation of parks (primarily within estates in Podillia), some of which have survived (e.g., in Stavyshche, Kyiv Oblast), but most of them have been lost. A. Andrzejowski almost constantly combined his research activities with pedagogical work: he taught pupils and students of the Volynian Gymnasium (Kremenets Lyceum), St Volodymyr Imperial University of Kyiv, and the Prince Bezborodko Physical and Mathematical Lyceum of Nizhyn. He belonged to the Vilna-Kremenets Scientific School with the classical traditions of an integrated approach to the study of nature. Most of the biography and various aspects of A. Andrzejowski’s activity are discussed in numerous studies, including some of our previous publications. His preserved scientific heritage, in particular botanical works and herbarium collections, also have not escaped the attention of scientists.
Keywords
