Maksymilian Siła-Nowicki (9 October 1826 – 30 October 1890) was a Polish

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

professor and pioneer conservationist in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, and father of the poet Franciszek Nowicki. He was brother-in-law to

Kraków University The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university i ...

law professor and rector Franciszek Kasparek.

Career

Nowicki began his career as a teacher in the

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

of eastern

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, and by dint of ambition and self-education eventually became a professor of

(1863–90). In 1873, he was inducted into the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

-based Academy of Learning. Also in 1873, he co-founded the Tatras Society ('' Towarzystwo Tatrzańskie''). In 1879, he founded the National Fishing Society ('' Krajowe Towarzystwo Rybackie''). His greatest academic achievements were in

entomology Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...

and

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. Nowicki sought to give a

practical Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

bent to his

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

. He wrote: "In the interest of husbandry in this country, it is appropriate to develop a knowledge of

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s that are harmful to husbandry... and of animals that are useful to t" It was chiefly thanks to him that the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

in 1868 passed a law protecting

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra Mountains, Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the ...

marmot Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...

s and Alpine

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s in the

Tatra Mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the h ...

. Nowicki was the initiator of, and driving force behind, the Physiographic Commission (''Komisja Fizjograficzna'') of the Academy of Learning, and was a member of many other learned societies."Siła-Nowicki, Maksymilian," '' Encyklopedia Polski'', p. 616.

Notes

References

* "Siła-Nowicki, Maksymilian," '' Encyklopedia Polski'' (Encyclopedia of Poland),

, Wydawnictwo Ryszard Kluszczyński, 1996, , pp. 615–16. * "Nowicki-Siła, Maksymilian," ''Encyklopedia powszechna PWN'' (PWN Universal Encyclopedia), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1975, vol. 3, p. 312. * "Nowicki-Siła, Maksymilian," ''Encyklopedia popularna PWN'' (PWN Popular Encyclopedia), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1962, p. 711. *Evenhuis, N. L., 1997 ''Litteratura taxonomica dipterorum'' (1758-1930). Volume 1 (A-K); Volume 2 (L-Z). - Leiden, Backhuys Publishers 1; 2 : VII+1-426; 427-87 Volume 2: 562–563, Portrait and Schriftenverzeichnis

External links

Polish Ethological Society article, in Polish, giving extensive details of Maksymilian Nowicki's adventurous, inspiring life.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicki, Maksymilian 1826 births 1890 deaths People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria 19th-century Polish zoologists Polish entomologists Polish ornithologists Polish ichthyologists Conservationists

Career

See also

Notes

References

External links