EMIL RACOVITA
(1868-1947)
Romanian biologist. Member and president (1927-1929) of the Romanian Academy, and Professor at the University of Cluj for more than twenty years (1920-1947). He was on Amundsen's 'Belgica' on its cruise to the Antartic continent, during which, as a naturalist, his botanical and zoological samplings were quite impressive as did his, by now classical, researches on whales prove to be. He was assistant director of the sea zoo research station at Banyuls-sur-Mer (France), and of the Comparative Anatomy Laboratory from Sorbonne, and co-director of the international journal 'Archives de zoologie experimentale et generale'. In 1920 at the University of Cluj he founded the first Institute of speleology in the world, and taught the first general biology course in Romania. As the mentor of biospeleology, he defined it the science of life in the subterranean world (caves and underground waters). With respect to biological evolution, he defended the Evolutionism from idealistic misinterpretations and stances. Thanks to his researches on systematics, ecology and evolution of underground animals, a philogenetic approach in systematics could be developed. Being truly fond of his country nature, Emil Racovita was among the first to propose and take effective measures for the preservation of the natural monuments in Romania.
In addition to scientific papers, he published articles on the organisation of education and of scientific research. Main works: 'Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques' (1907), 'Speleology' (1927), 'Evolution and its Problems' (1929).
