Wacław Gajewski (; 28 Februari 1911 – 12 December 1997) was a Polish

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

, one of the founders of the Polish post-war genetics and author of academic and popular scientific books.

Biography

Gajewski was born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

in 1911. He graduated from the

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

in 1934 and received his doctorate in 1937. Shortly after the war, in 1948 Gajewski was one of the few Polish biologists who opposed the official "new biology",

lysenkoism Lysenkoism ( ; ) was a political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon ...

—a pseudoscientific theory of genetics proposed by the Soviet agronomist

Trofim Lysenko Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (; , ; 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agronomist and scientist.''An ill-educated agronomist with huge ambitions, Lysenko failed to become a real scientist, but greatly succeeded in exposing of the “bourgeois enemies o ...

. Consequently, during the Stalinist period Gajewski was not allowed any contact with students; however, he was permitted to continue his scientific work. In 1950 he was elected a member of the

Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning (, PAU), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences (the other being the Po ...

. In 1956, with the

Gomułka Thaw The Polish October ( ), also known as the Polish thaw or Gomułka's thaw, also "small stabilization" () was a change in the Politics of Poland, politics of the Polish People's Republic that occurred in October 1956. Władysław Gomułka was appo ...

and the diminishing importance of lysenkoism, Gajewski was allowed to hold a position of lecturer at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, where two years later, the first Polish department of genetics was established under his leadership. During the years 1967-1981 Gajewski was the director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1981, when

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

was imposed in Poland, Gajewski (then retired) was initially on the list of Polish scientists that were to be arrested. He died in Warsaw in 1997.

Scientific career

Gajewski first published in 1932. He soon became interested in

cytogenetics Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis an ...

and

molecular genetics Molecular genetics is a branch of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the st ...

. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Gajewski worked on the genetics of the genus

Geum ''Geum'' , (Latinized Greek for "taste" referencing the roots of the plant) commonly called avens, is a genus of about 50 species of rhizomatous perennial herbaceous plants in the rose family and its subfamily Rosoideae which are widely distrib ...

. Later, he published several acknowledged papers in the area of fungal genetics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gajewski, Waclaw 1911 births 1997 deaths Scientists from Kraków Scientists from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish biologists Polish geneticists Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the University of Warsaw 20th-century Polish biologists Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland