Robert August Kunytskyi (1880-1914): talented veterinarian and founder of theoretical zootechnics.

Abstract

The pages of the proposed article highlight the unusual fate of Robert August Kunytskyi’s (1888-1914). He was a well-known veterinarian, a graduate and an employee of the Kharkiv Veterinary Institute, a zootechnical scientist, a patriot of the Motherland and a hero of the Polish Legions. This study is valuable both for the history of Polish veterinary medicine and for the history of zootechnical science. It is based on archival sources that were unknown in Poland at that time and were stored in the funds of the State Archive of the Kharkiv Region. Articles from the Kharkiv press of that time that tell about his stay and professional activities in the city, are valuable for supplementing the scientist’s biography. The authors drew attention to the important role that Ukraine played in Robert Kunytskyi’s life. Kharkiv city was a place of study and later of his work at the Veterinary Institute. It is emphasized that in the Kharkiv period Kunitsky showed himself as a scientist who was engaged in animal husbandry. He initiated the reform of veterinary education, made efforts to include zootechnical disciplines in the curricula of veterinary students as well.