Jakub Ignacy Waga (26 July 1800 – 23 February 1872) was a Polish botanist, educator, and

Piarist The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools ( la, Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the ...

. Along with his brother Antoni Waga he published an early list of the plants of Poland.

Life and work

Waga was born at Grabow near

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship si ...

to landowner Bernard and Agata née Gutowska. Educated at Piarist schools in

Szczuczyn Szczuczyn is a town in Grajewo County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. As of 2004, it has a population of 3,602. History The town is located in the north-eastern outskirts of Mazovia, which has been part of Poland since the establishment of t ...

, Łomża, and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, he became interested in plants through his teacher E. Andraszek. He then studied at the Royal University of Warsaw (1821–24) and received a master's degree in zoology under

Feliks Paweł Jarocki Feliks Paweł Jarocki (Pacanów, 14 January 1790 – 25 March 1865, Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and entomologist. Life Jarocki was a Doctor of Liberal Arts and Philosophy. He organized and managed the Zoological Cabinet of the Royal Univers ...

. He also worked with Michał Szubert at the botanical garden. Waga then became a teacher at Piarist schools in Warsaw and Radom from 1825 and continued until his retirement to Łomża in 1862. While teaching in various places, he explored the plants of the regions and in 1829 took part in an expedition along with Szubert and Jastrzębowskiet which resulted in a large herbarium collection. He suffered from tuberculosis and began to work on a two volume work on the flora of Poland ''Flora Polska'' in collaboration with his brother Antoni. He married Kornelia Romanówna in 1833 and they had a daughter who died in infancy and a son who died in 1865. In 1851 he became an inspector at the Łomża gymnasium. He suffered from poor health and died at his home in Łomża. A statue of Waga was installed in the Botanical Garden in Warsaw which was destroyed in World War II and reconstructed in 1964.

Life and work

References

External links