Tadas Ivanauskas
Encyclopedia
Tadas Ivanauskas was a prominent Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

n zoologist and biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...

, and one of the founders of Vytautas Magnus University
Vytautas Magnus University
Vytautas Magnus University ) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university...

.

Biography

After finishing Warsaw Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 in 1901 Ivanauskas moved to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, where studied in the 1st gymnasium of the city. 1903 he studied at the natural sciences department of the Saint Petersburg University. He met and befriendied Lithuanian students here and learned Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

.

1905 he moved to Paris, and studied at Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

 University Nature-history faculty and graduated in 1909. Since 1904 was member of Lithuanian society Lituania. Together with another early twentieth century Lithuanian activist, Michał Römer, Ivanauskas gave lectures about Lithuania in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1905.

1909 he again entered Saint Petersburg University, as Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 did not recognize foreign diplomas, and finished with first grade diploma in 1910. During the studies he was active in Lithuanian student society, was elected a chairman.

In 1910 in Saint Petersburg established natural sciences visual devices laboratory Zootom, that prepared various biological, botanical, anatomical and mineralogical devices. In summertime he traveled around Lithuania collecting material for his devices. 1914 and 1917 Ivanauskas participated in scientific expeditions into Northern Russia (Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...

 and Archangelsk) and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. 1918 Ivanauskas returned to Lithuania and together with his wife Honorata opened Lithuanian school.

1920 he moved to Kaunas and worked as adviser in Ministry of Agriculture of Lithuania, also helped organizing Higher courses, that later became University of Lithuania. Together with Konstantinas Regelis organized Kaunas Botanical Park in 1923. together with his wife started organizing annual National day of birds and Tree planting days.

He was a professor in University of Lithuania (later Vytautas Magnus University
Vytautas Magnus University
Vytautas Magnus University ) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university...

) from 1922 until 1940, and in 1929, became the head of the Zoology Department. He became a professor at the re-established Vilnius University
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....

 between 1940 and 1941. He returned to this position in 1944, which he held until 1956. He simultaneously held a professorship at the Kaunas Medical Institute
Kaunas University of Medicine
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences ) is a medical school in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was founded in 1919 and from 1922 it was a Faculty of Medicine of University of Lithuania....

 from 1954 until 1970.

Among his other achievements, he is known for opening one of the first bird banding stations in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, at Cape Ventė in 1929. He also founded the Zoological Museum
Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum
The Tadas Ivanauskas Zoological Museum was established in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1919 by Tadas Ivanauskas. The museum collects and exhibits various animals: hunting trophies, stuffed animals, insect collections, skeletons, dissections...

 in 1918, the Kaunas botanical garden
Kaunas Botanical Garden
The Kaunas Botanical Garden was founded in 1923 south of the center of Kaunas, Lithuania, in conjunction with the University of Lithuania by the initiative of Tadas Ivanauskas and Konstantinas Regelis...

 in 1923, Žuvintas reserve in 1937, and the Kaunas Zoo
Kaunas Zoo
Lithuanian Zoo previously known as Kaunas' Zoo is the only Zoo in Lithuania. It is located in an Ąžuolynas oak grove park in the south-western Žaliakalnis elderate of Kaunas. The territory of the zoo is ....

 in 1938.

Ivanauskas published 37 books and brochures, most famous of them - Birds of Lithuania. Since 1941 he was a full member of Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences or LAS, founded in 1941 as the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences , as an autonomous, state-subsidized establishment serving as a scientific advisory body to the government of Lithuanian SSR...

.

Nationality

Being born as Tadeusz Iwanowski in Lebiodka, Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...

 of today's Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, in a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 noble family loyal to the heritage of Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

, he did not know Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

 until 1905. Ivanauskas considered himself to be Lithuanian, and dedicated his life to the newly re-established country. He opened the first Lithuanian school with his wife in 1918. There was a noted episode during Polish-Lithuanian War
Polish-Lithuanian War
The Polish–Lithuanian War was an armed conflict between newly independent Lithuania and Poland in the aftermath of World War I. The conflict primarily concerned territorial control of the Vilnius Region, including Vilnius , and the Suwałki Region, including the towns of Suwałki, Augustów, and Sejny...

, as one of his brothers during ceasefire transferred Tadas' taxidermical
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...

 collection through the front line into Lithuania.

The other three brothers of Ivanauskas identified themselves with the other two nationalities of former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...

, two (Jerzy Iwanowski - politician and engineer and Stanisław Iwanowski - lawyer) chose to become Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

, and one Wacław Iwanouski (politician) - Belarusian
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...

 (although he would live in interwar Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

).
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