TY - JOUR
TI - The State Zoological Museum and the Establishment of the Polish Academy of Sciences: The Beginnings of the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
AU - Zabłocki, Wojciech
TI - The State Zoological Museum and the Establishment of the Polish Academy of Sciences: The Beginnings of the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
AB - The State Zoological Museum, established in 1928, inherited and developed the legacy of the Zoological Cabinet of the University of Warsaw (existing since 1818). The Cabinet’s collection had been gathered for decades and belonged to eminent personages not only in Poland but also in Europe. The Museum and its collections were threatened many times: first by a great fire in 1935, then by the German attack on Warsaw in 1939 and subsequent occupation, as well as by the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising and the destruction of the city. After the post-war reconstruction of the Museum, it was time to function in a new political reality, in which the most significant change for this institution was the establishment of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A planned inclusion of the State Zoological Museum in the structures of the newly-founded Polish Academy of Sciences meant that the scientists had to face a dilemma: in exchange for research funds and career development opportunities, they were expected to show favour to the communists and readiness to implement the idea of socialism. In the background of this process, numerous scientific conferences took place, where controversial visions of the future of biological sciences clashed. This process resulted in the transformation of the State Zoological Museum into the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
VL - 2020
IS - Volume 65, Issue 4
PY - 2020
SN - 0023-589X
C1 - 2657-4020
SP - 81
EP - 98
DO - 10.4467/0023589XKHNT.20.029.12862
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/kwartalnik-historii-nauki-i-techniki/article/panstwowe-muzeum-zoologiczne-wobec-powstania-polskiej-akademii-nauk-droga-do-powolania-instytutu-zoologicznego-pan
KW - State Zoological Museum
KW - Zoological Cabinet
KW - Polish Academy of Sciences
KW - Institute of Zoology
KW - National Natural History Museum
KW - Congress of Polish Science
KW - Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
KW - Warsaw Scientific Society
KW - ‘new biology’