Benedykt Dybowski became a scientist in exile, and then he went there voluntarily

On May 12, 1833, Benedykt Dybowski was born. Exiled by the tsar to Siberia, he began to study the local nature. In over 350 scientific works, he described about 400 specimens of animals living in Baikal.

Dybowski was the author of pioneering studies on the fauna and flora of Lake Baikal and Siberia. His works on limnology (the study of inland waters) and invertebrate zoology opened up new research perspectives and are still a valuable contribution to the natural sciences. He liked to say that "a researcher who is not fascinated by the world is not fit to study the world" and he remained true to this motto throughout his life.

Benedykt Dybowski, of the Nałęcz coat of arms, was born in Adamaryn near Minsk in Belarus. Initially, he acquired his knowledge at home, and his first teachers were his parents, governesses, and older sisters. It was then that he became interested in nature and established herbaria and aquariums with his younger brother Władysław. He continued his education at the Minsk grammar school. After graduating, Dybowski began studies at the University of Dorpat, which in the mid-19th century was one of the few universities in Russia where lectures in natural sciences were given in German by outstanding professors, and at the same time there was an active Polish academic community. Among the many famous students of Dorpat, in addition to Dybowski, one can mention his companion from exile, geologist Aleksander Czekanowski, physician and mountaineer Tytus Chałubiński, or the younger, but probably most distinguished Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski.

Dybowski was an outstanding student and received a gold medal for his achievements. But his rebellious nature had already emerged at that time and - as described by biographer Gabriel Brzęk - "due to supporting his colleague in a duel with a German, he had to (…) leave Dorpat and continue his studies in Wrocław, then in Berlin, where in 1860 he obtained a doctorate in medicine and surgery". However, he had to return to Dorpat in 1861 to have his "doctoral diploma recognized for the territory of the Russian Empire".

Dybowski became interested in the theory of evolution during his studies, and was even called a "definite Darwinist". Later, as an employee, he popularized this concept in the places where he lectured, i.e. at the Main School of Warsaw and at the University of Lviv. It is possible that Dybowski would have devoted himself to further theoretical and research work focused on evolutionism, had he not been absorbed by independence activities.

Brave, uncompromising, and downright modern in his views, Dybowski enjoyed great esteem among both students and lecturers. What is more, his office at the Main School of Warsaw was not only a place of scientific debates, but also of political meetings, with the participation of, among others, Romuald Traugutt. Sometimes, Dybowski even played the role of a secret emissary, with letters hidden in the lining of his coat. During the January Uprising, he became the commissioner of the National Government to Lithuania and Belarus. Taking into account the possibility of arrest, he hid copies of all nominations and a detailed list of various regulations of the National Government in the Zoological Cabinet of Professor Władysław Taczanowski. He hid the documents inside a dissected saiga, an animal similar to an antelope that still lived on Polish lands in the 17th century.

Dybowski was arrested in February 1864, but the Tsar's investigators found no documents in his home. Despite this, he was imprisoned in the notorious X Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel. After lengthy interrogations, he was sentenced to death, along with Traugutt and over twenty other commanders of the uprising. While Traugutt and four others were executed on the slopes of the Citadel, Dybowski's execution was commuted to exile. This was supposedly possible thanks to the intercession of Bismarck himself, who was supposedly asked for help by scientists from Wrocław and Berlin. From that moment on, Dybowski's wanderings began.

By train, kibitkas, and on foot with other exiles, he first reached the Ingoda River in Transbaikal. The biographer described that in "his free time from hard labor, together with his faithful companion in exile misery, Wiktor Godlewski, instead of sinking into despair, he undertook (...) research on fish and bird fauna, showing that contrary to the views of previous researchers, the fauna of Siberia is completely different from the fauna of Europe." When his work gained notoriety, Dybowski obtained permission from the authorities to conduct research in the areas around Baikal, the Amur, and Kamchatka. "My greatest discovery was not any scorpions or cyprinids," he recalled, "but the enormous diversity of life in just one lake - from the smallest crustaceans to fish weighing several hundred kilograms." During his research of Baikal, Dybowski collected and described hundreds of organisms, including invertebrates. His depth observations showed the existence of life down to 1,200 m (3,600 ft) below the surface, a world record at the time.

After returning to Europe in 1879, he continued his scientific work at the University of Lviv, where he took up the chair of zoology. He wrote articles on embryology, morphology and ecology of freshwater organisms. His lectures attracted crowds of young adepts of science, and he himself used to say that "nature requires from the researcher not only cool analysis, but also a heart open to its secrets". In the last two decades of the 19th century, he published monographs on Baikal fish, including the viviparous golomyka ( Comephorus baikalensis ) and Siberian crustaceans, thus inspiring subsequent generations of limnologists. Once again, as a free man, Dybowski set off on a research mission to the distant Transbaikal. His achievements from that time included, for example, the introduction, or transplantation, of reindeer to the Commander Islands. Dybowski's works were translated into Russian and German. He travelled, visited the territories of present-day Belarus, Austria and Italy, and collected comparative materials for further research.

Benedykt Dybowski also dealt with the ethnography of Siberia: he described the customs and beliefs of the indigenous peoples of Lake Baikal, and was also interested in the Tungus languages. His ethnographic notes – now kept in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences – contain the first systematic descriptions of fishing rituals by the Buryats, a Mongolian people living, among others, on Lake Baikal. In addition, he applied the medical knowledge he acquired during his studies in practice. At first, he treated fellow exiles, and in time also Siberian autochthons, and, among others, in the years 1879-1883 he served as the government doctor of the Commander Islands in the Bering Sea. In one of his letters, he wrote with his innate modesty that his "help, although incomplete, was extremely valuable to them (i.e. the locals - author's note), and I myself was treated with great respect and trust". He added that the indigenous people "do not have a doctor in the modern sense of the word, and their medicine is based mainly on the use of herbs and shamanic practices."

With the outbreak of World War I, Dybowski – as an Austrian citizen – was threatened with internment in Russia. However, scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences came to his aid and vouched for him. However, in the confusion of war, some of the natural history specimens collected by Dybowski were lost, as well as manuscripts of scientific works. Nevertheless, a lot was saved – a huge luggage arrived with him to Lviv, where he settled: 60 crates weighing over 11 tons contained valuable scientific collections. They became the foundation for the Lviv Zoological Museum, which still exists today and bears his name.

The ethnographic part of Dybowski's collection, on the other hand, was dispersed. It was shown in Warsaw, Lviv, and then "made its way to the collections of the Kraków Museum of Technology and Industry, established in 1868 on the initiative of Dr. Adrian Baraniecki," according to the Ethnographic Museum in Kraków. Dybowski died on January 30, 1930, as witnesses described, "at an advanced age, but with perfect clarity of mind."

His funeral gathered representatives of the university, the Society of Naturalists and crowds of former students. "A researcher who devoted himself entirely to understanding nature in the most difficult conditions has passed away," wrote "Kurier Lwowski" in his obituary. Dybowski's legacy is still too little appreciated in Poland, and the list of his achievements is simply impressive: in over 350 scientific works he described about 400 specimens of animals living in Baikal. Several species of crustaceans and fish bear his name, the famous eastern deer (sika) is also called Dybowski's deer ( Cervus nippon dybowskii ).

Marta Panas-Goworska (PAP)

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