Benedykt Dybowski

Benedykt Dybowski ( born May 12, 1833 in Adamaryn in a circle Nowogródek in Grodno region, † January 31, 1930 in Lviv ) was a Polish naturalist and physician.

Life and work

Benedykt Dybowski studied at the universities of Dorpat (Tartu ) and Wroclaw medicine, later paleontology, botany and medicine in Berlin, and went on expeditions to explore oceanic fish and crustaceans. He was appointed professor of zoology at the SzkoĹ Główna Warszawska in Warsaw.

In 1864 he was arrested for taking part in the Polish January Uprising and sentenced to death. His sentence was later reduced to 12 years hard labor in Siberia.

He began the study of the natural history of Siberia. 1866 freed him governor Murawjow from forced labor, renewed his civil rights and suggested that he work as a physician in a hospital before.

He settled in the small village Kultuk and began conducting detailed research of Lake Baikal with the technical support of the Russian Geographical Society.

1927 declared the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Dybowski to their member. Dybowski 1921 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Warsaw and in 1923 the Vilnius University. On his 95th birthday he congratulated the Ukrainian Shevchenko Society.

Dybowski died at age 97 years. He is buried in Lviv on the Łyczakowski Cemetery next to other participants in the Polish uprising of 1863.

Trivia

" Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis ", a supposedly originating from the Lake Baikal amphipod, which was named by Dybowski, was once the longest scientific name. However, this name is, according to the International Regulations invalid for Zoological Nomenclature.