Ignacy Domeyko

Ignacy Domeyko ( _es. Ignacio Domeyko, _be. Ігнат Дамейка, _pl. Ignacy Domejko, _lt. Ignotas Domeika; born near Nesvizh, Belarus, July 31, 1802 – January 23, 1889, Santiago de Chile) was a 19th-century Lithuanian–Polish–Chilean geologist and mineralogist who was born in Imperial Russia, in present-day Belarus, in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

After a youth spent in partitioned Polish-Lithuanian lands, he participated in the November 1830 Uprising against the Russian Empire. Upon its suppression, he was forced into exile. He spent part of his life in France and eventually settled in Chile, of which he became a citizen and where he lived for some 50 years. Domeyko made major contributions to the study of Chilean geography, geology and mineralogy.

He is seen as having close ties with several countries and thus in 2002, when UNESCO organized a series of commemorative events, he was referred to as a "citizen of the world". [http://www.msz.gov.pl/files/file_library/42/20020527a_7146.doc CULTURAL BULLETIN 21 (165)] , Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002] [Algimantas Grigelis' preface to the book "Ignotas Domeika/Ignacy Domeyko 1802 - 1889, Ignacy Domeyko - A Citizen of the World [http://www.unesco.lt/print?pid=168] - scroll down for English translation]

Life

Domeyko was born in the Russian sector of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at Niedźwiadka ( _be. "Мядзьведка" — Miadzviedka) Manor (Bear Cub Manor), near Nieśwież (Nesvizh), Nowogródek (Navahradak) district, Minsk Governorate, Imperial Russia (now Karelichy district, Belarus).

In his youth he was a subject of the Russian Empire. Domeyko had, however, been brought up in the culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a multicultural entity whose educated and dominant classes had spoken Polish as a "lingua franca" and that, shortly before Domeyko's birth, had been dismembered in the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth—the third and last of which had occurred in 1795. For this reason, and because Domeyko subsequently spent most of his life in Chile, he is considered a person of national importance to four countries: Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Chile.

Domeyko studied at the Imperial University of Vilna under Jędrzej Śniadecki. Involved with the Philomaths, a secret student organization dedicated to Polish culture and the restoration of Poland's independence, he was a close friend of Adam Mickiewicz, the greatest Polish Romantic poet and Alexander Pushkin's rival as the greatest poet of East-central and Eastern Europe. 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 the November 1830 Uprising, in which Domeyko served as an officer under General Dezydery Chłapowski, in 1831 Domeyko was forced into exile in order not to face Russian reprisals. Journeying through Germany, he arrived in France, where he would earn an engineering degree at Paris' "École des Mines" (School of Mining).

In 1838 he left for Chile. On becoming a Chilean citizen in 1849, he declared: "I may now never change my citizenship, but God grants me hope that wherever I may be—whether in the Cordilleras or in [the Vilnius suburb of] Paneriai—I shall die a Lithuanian."UNESCO. [http://www.unesco.lt/domeika/biografija/#2 Ignotas Domeika 200] . Retrieved on 2008-07-24]

Domeyko lived in Chile until May 22, 1884, when he returned for an extended visit to Europe. He remained for four years in partitioned Poland—receiving an honorary doctorate from the Jagiellonian University in the Austro-Hungarian sector of Poland, and touring Europe—then returned to Chile.

During his career, Domeyko made substantial contributions to mineralogy and the technology of mining, studied several previously unknown minerals, advocated for the civil rights of the native tribal peoples, and was a meteorologist and ethnographer.

He served as a professor at a mining college in Coquimbo (La Serena) and later at the University of Chile ("Universidad de Chile"), of which he was rector for 16 years (1867-83).

Memorials

Named for Domeyko are the mineral "domeykite", the shellfish "Nautilus domeykus", the ammonite "Amonites domeykanus", asteroid "2784 Domeyko", the "Cordillera Domeyko" mountain range in the Andes, and the Chilean town of "Domeyko".

A bronze bust of Domeyko stands in the "Casa Central" of Santiago's University of Chile, of which Domeyko was a long-time rector.

In 1992, a plaque in Spanish and Polish was placed on a building at "Krakowskie Przedmieście 64", in Warsaw, Poland, commemorating Ignacy Domeyko / Ignacio Domeyko, "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." Several commemorative events were held in Chile under the auspices of Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

In 2002, Poland and Chile jointly issued a postage stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of Domeyko's birth.

Also in 2002, a 200th-birthday plaque honoring him was placed in the entry gate to Vilnius' Uniate Basilian monastery, where he and Adam Mickiewicz were held in 1823–24 during the investigation and trials of the Philomaths.

Notes

References

* Polish language
* Polish language
* Polish language
* Polish language
* Portuguese language
* [http://www.wuj.pl/index.php?DID=0x00170100030001000000000000000561 review] , Polish language
* Paz Domeyko Lea-Plaza. Ignacio Domeyko. La Vida de un Emigrante. Santiago, Chile.2002. Random House Mondadori (Editorial Sudamericana)ISBN 9562621618 Spanish language
* Paz Domeyko. A Life in Exile. Ignacy Domeyko 1802-1889. Sydney, Australia 2005. ISBN 0646447289 }.9. English language. Available from author. See website Paz Domeyko, www.pazdomeyko.com

ee also

*Biblioteca Polaca Ignacio Domeyko
*List of Poles

External links

*/en icon [http://galaxy.uci.agh.edu.pl/~domeyko/ 2002 Polish conference on Ignacy Domeyko] . Contains a selection of articles and book reviews, some in English
* Algimantas Grigelis, [http://www.episodes.org/backissues/284/279-285classic.text.pdf Ignacy Domeyko—an early investigator of Andean geology] , Episodes, Vol. 28, no. 4, December 2005
* [http://www.uj.edu.pl/IRO/NEWSLET/IRO13/RYN-P.html "Ignacy Domeyko – Spiritual Bridge between Poland and Chile."] An English-language article about 1999 Polish-Chilean celebrations of Domeyko's legacy.
* [http://www.dziennik.com/www/dziennik/kult/archiwum/07-12-02/pp-07-26-01.html Malgorzata Markoff, "Dwie ojczyzny Ignacego Domeyki" ("Ignacy Domeyko's Two Countries"), "Przegląd Polski" (Polish Review), July 26, 2002.] A Polish-language article about Domeyko in the literary supplement to "Nowy Dziennik" (The New Daily), a Polish-language daily published in New York City.
* Honorata Szocik, [http://naszczas2002.tripod.com/042/1str.html Życie Ignacego Domeyki, jego prace,wkład do geologii i nauk społecznych] , Nasz Czas 37 (576)
* cite web | title="Ігнат Дамейка — светач сусветнай цывілізацыі." (Ignat Dameyka — Luminary of World Civilization) | work=Матэрыялы VI Карэліцкіх чытанняў | url=http://www.skc.edu.by/vydanni/damiejka-zmiest.htm| accessmonthday=May 29 | accessyear=2005 Proceedings of a 2002 Belarusian conference about Domeyko.
* [http://www.domeyko.yoyo.pl "Ignacy Domeyko, 1802-1889."] A Polish scout troop, named for Domeyko, maintains his memory.