Ignacy Domeyko | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 31 July 1802 |
| Died | 23 January 1889 (1889-01-24) (aged 86) |
| Education | Vilnius University |
| Occupation(s) | geologist, mineralogist |
Ignacy Domeyko orDomejko, pseudonym:Żegota (Spanish:Ignacio Domeyko,Spanish pronunciation:[iɣˈnasjoðoˈmejko]; 31 July 1802 – 23 January 1889) was aPolish[1][2][3]geologist,mineralogist, educator, and founder of theUniversity of Santiago, inChile. Domeyko spent most of his life, and died, in his adopted country, Chile.
After a youth passed inpartitioned Poland, Domeyko participated in thePolish–Russian War 1830–31. Upon Russian victory, he was exiled, spending part of his life in France (where he had gone with a fellowPhilomath, Polish poetAdam Mickiewicz) before eventually settling inChile, whosecitizen he became.
He lived some 50 years in Chile and made major contributions to the study of that country'sgeography,geology andmineralogy. His observations on the circumstances of poverty-strickenminers and of their wealthyexploiters had a profound influence on those who would go on to shapeChile'slabor movement.
Domeyko is seen as having had close ties to several countries and thus in 2002, whenUNESCO organized a series of commemorations of the 200th anniversary of his birth, he was referred to as "a citizen of the world".[4][5]
Ignacy Domeyko was born in the thenRussian partition of the formerPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, atNiedźwiadka Wielka (Belarusian:Мядзьведка,romanized: Miadzviedka) Manor nearNieśwież,Minsk Governorate,Imperial Russia (nowKarelichy district,Belarus). The Domeyko family held the PolishDangielcoat of arms. Ignacy's father, Hipolit Domeyko, who was president of the local land court (Polish:sąd ziemski), died when Ignacy was seven years old; the boy's uncles then served as his guardians.[6]
In his youth Ignacy was a subject of theRussian Empire. He had, however, been brought up in the culture of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a multicultural state whose educated and dominant classes had spoken Polish as alingua franca. Shortly before Domeyko's birth, the Commonwealth had been dismembered in thepartitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. For this reason, and because Domeyko subsequently spent most of his life inChile, he is considered a person of national importance toPoles,Belarusians,[7][8]Lithuanians,[citation needed] andChileans.
Domeyko enrolled atVilnius University, then known as the Imperial University of Vilna, in 1816 as a student of mathematics and physics.[6] He studied underJędrzej Śniadecki. Involved with thePhilomaths, a secret student organisation dedicated to Polish culture and the restoration of Poland's independence, he was a close friend ofAdam Mickiewicz. In 1823–24, during the investigation and trials of the Philomaths, Domeyko and Mickiewicz spent months incarcerated at Vilnius' Uniate Basilian monastery.
After participating in theNovember 1830 Uprising, in which Domeyko served as an officer under GeneralDezydery Chłapowski, in 1831 Domeyko was forced intoexile in order not to faceRussian reprisals.
Journeying through Germany, he arrived in France, where he would earn an engineering degree at Paris'École des Mines (School of Mining). He also studied at theSorbonne and maintained his political engagements with Belarusians, Poles, and Lithuanians.[6]
In 1838 Domeyko left forChile. There he made substantial contributions tomineralogy and the technology of mining, studied several previously unknownminerals, advocated for thecivil rights of the native tribal peoples, and was ameteorologist andethnographer. He is also credited with introducing themetric system to Latin America.[6]
He served as a professor at a mining college inCoquimbo (La Serena) and after 1847 at theUniversity of Chile (Universidad de Chile, inSantiago), of which he wasrector for 16 years (1867–83).[6]Domeyko gained Chilean citizenship in 1849, but declared at the time that "I may now never change my citizenship, but God grants me hope that wherever I may be—whether in theCordilleras or in [theVilnius suburb of]Paneriai—I shall die a Lithuanian."[9][10] The term "Lithuanian" at that time designated any inhabitant, whatever his ethnicity, of the territories of the formerGrand Duchy of Lithuania.
In 1884 Domeyko returned for an extended visit to Europe and remained there until 1889, visiting his birthplace and other places in the former Commonwealth, as well as Paris.[6]
In 1887 he was awarded anhonorary doctorate by theJagiellonian University, inKraków.[6]
In 1889, soon after returning to Santiago, Chile, Domeyko died.[6]
Named in honour of Domeyko are:
A bronze bust of Domeyko stands in theCasa Central de la Universidad de Chile, of which Domeyko was long-timerector.
In 1992, a plaque in Spanish andPolish was placed on a building atKrakowskie Przedmieście 64, inWarsaw, Poland, commemorating the "distinguished son of the Polish nation and eminent citizen of Chile."
On the 200th anniversary of his birth,UNESCO declared 2002 to be "Ignacy Domeyko Year."[4] Several commemorative events were held in Chile under the auspices of Polish PresidentAleksander Kwaśniewski and Chilean PresidentRicardo Lagos.
In 2002, Poland and Chile jointly issued apostage stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of Domeyko's birth.
Also in 2002, a 200th-birthday plaque honoring him was placed in the entry gate toUniateBasilian monastery inVilnius, Lithuania, where he andAdam Mickiewicz were held in 1823–24 during the investigation and trials of thePhilomaths.
In 2015 aBelarusian climber Pavel Gorbunov placed a memorial plate on the top of Cerro Kimal inCordillera Domeyko.[12]
...ar Kordiljeruose mirsiu, ar Paneriuose - mirsiu lietuviu...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) Polish language
