Mammalian and avian embryology at Warsaw University (Poland) from XIX century to the present

Abstract

KEY WORDS: mouse, regulative development, chimaerism, cell lineage, fertilization The beginnings: XIX century -1939Poland lost independence in the XVIII century after she was partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria from 1772 to 1795. In the times that followed, many Polish scientists studied and often lived abroad, and many foreigners came to work in Polish academic institutions. In 1816 Alexander I, the Emperor of Russia and the usurper King of Poland, granted permission for the establishment of Warsaw University. The University followed the tradition of three earlier institutions of higher education: Collegium Nobilium, opened in 1766, the School of Law (founded in 1808) and the School of Medicine (founded in 1809). The University still bears the emblem described as "an ancient Polish eagle with a crown, with spread wings, a palm frond in its left claws and laurel branch in its right, the symbols of patient diligence and honour, surrounded by five stars representing its five academic faculties". These faculties were theology, law, medicine, philosophy, and the liberal arts. After the fall of the November 1830 uprising, in which a majority of students had participated, the University was closed in 1831. In 1857 there was a brief period of Int. J. Dev. Biol. 52: 121-134 (2008) +48-22-55-41-210. e-mail: akt@biol.uw.edu.pl # Note: This article is not a review of the principle interests of this Department, and therefore, we quote other authors very selectively, for instance, when they carried out concurrently similar studies, or when their studies are essential for the understanding of the rationale and/or implications of our experiments. liberalization that resulted in the opening of the Main School (Szkola Glowna) with the departments of medical-surgical, law and administration, philological-historical, and mathematics-physics. The Main School was closed in 1869, on the wave of increasing oppression and russification after the fall of the second, the January 1863 uprising. However, in the short period of the existence of the Main School as many as three thousand students graduated and the School had great impact on the development of Polish science and culture. In 1870, the Russian Imperial University was opened in Warsaw. The majority of faculty teachers were Russians and the official (teaching) language was Russian. Steadily the University expanded: new buildings were constructed; academic potential increased and precious zoological and botanical collections were created.The Department of Comparative Anatomy was founded in 1870. It was headed by Russian scientists: Mitrofan Ganin (1870-84), Mitrofan Uljanin (1884-1888) and Pawel Mitrofanow (Mitrophanow) . Mitrofanow ( Fig. 1) was an outstanding avian embryologist working mainly on early embryos; in papers published in 1895 and 1899, he presented evidence that 122 A. Tarkowski et al. which in 1918 -when Poland regained independencebecame one of the first legally functioning Polish national institutions. Soon, many distinguished specialists and...

Mieczysław Konopacki – The Outstanding Polish Histologist, Anatomist, and Freemason Activist

“…Professor Mitrofanov, an academic teacher of great merit for the University of Warsaw, gave lectures and classes with students in 1886-1915 [1]. He educated many Polish embryologists and histologists during nearly thirty years of scientific work, including Jan Tur and Józef Eismond [2]. Mieczysław Konopacki's scientific career developed thanks to his diligence and commitment to the conducted research very quickly.…”