Państwowe Muzeum Zoologiczne wobec powstania Polskiej Akademii Nauk: droga do powołania Instytutu Zoologicznego PAN

Abstract

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 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.