Re: Antarctic Explorer Emil Racovitzа

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Antarctic Explorer Emil Racovitzа

Post by Anatol » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:37 pm

Emil Racovitza (15 November 1868 – 17 November 1947) was a Romanian biologist , zoologist , speleologist , explorer of Antarctica and the first biologist in the world to study the arctic life.Together with Grigore Antipa , he was one of the most noted promoters of natural sciences in Romania. Racoviță was the first Romanian to have gone on a scientific research expedition to the Antarctic , as well as an influential professor, scholar and researcher. As a promising young scientist, Racoviță was selected to be part of an international team that started out on a research expedition to Antarctica, aboard the ship Belgica .The expedition was led by the Belgian officer Adrien de Gerlache , who was also the ship's owner. On 16 August 1897, under the aegis of the Royal Society of Geography in Brussels , Belgium , the Belgica , a former Norwegian wooden whaler , left the port of Antwerp , setting sail for the South. It was the ship that gave its name to the whole expedition.The three-mast ship was equipped with a 160 horse-power engine. The 19 members of the team were of various nationalities, a rare thing for that time.The first mate of the vessel was Roald Amundsen (who was to conquer the South Pole in 1911). Apart from Racoviță, the team was made up of Belgian physicist Émile Danco , Polish geologist and oceanographer Henryk Arctowski with his assistant Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski and American physician Frederick Cook .The team left the deck of the ship 22 times, in order to collect scientific data, to conduct investigations and experiments. Racoviță was the first researcher to collect botanical and zoological samples from areas beyond the Antarctic Circle.Belgica made the first daily meteorological recordings and measurements in Antarctica, every hour, for a whole year. The scientists also collected information on oceanic currents and terrestrial magnetism , with as many as 10 volumes of scientific conclusions being published at the end of the expedition, which was considered a success.The expedition encountered several hardships. Between 10 March 1898 and 14 March 1899, Belgica was caught between ice blocks, making it impossible to sail any further. It was a difficult year for the whole team. For instance, the crew had to carve a 75-meter-long canal through a 6 meter-thick layer of ice, in order to generate a waterway by which to sail to a navigable body of water. Belgicareturned to Europe in 1899 without two team-members, who had died during the expedition: a young Norwegian mariner Carl Wiencke (lost overboard) and Émile Danco {died natural causes}.The results of his research were published in 1900, under the title "The life of animals and plants in Antarctica". Emil Racoviță continued his research, contributing to speleology and exploring over 1,400 caves in France , Spain , Algeria , Italy , and Slovenia . He is considered to be, together with René Jeannel , one of the founders of biospeleology He founded the world's first Speleological Institute on 26 April 1920 there. In 1920, he became a member of the Romanian Academy , and remained a major figure of scientific life in Romania until his death. In 2006, the first Romanian Antarctic exploration station was named Law-Racoviță .
Romania 1958,55b,SG2597;1986,2L; 1997,450L,SG5903. Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Racoviță

Anatol
Posts: 1037
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Re: Antarctic Explorer Emil Racovitzа

Post by Anatol » Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:05 pm

Romania 1958,55b,SG2597;1986,2L; 1997,450L,SG5903.
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