Władysław Szafer (1886-1970)

Abstract

Władysław Szafer (1886-1970), an outstanding botanist ? plant geographer (phytogeographer), paleobotanist, historian and popularizer of biology, co-founder of nature protection. He worked as a professor at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, the director of the University Institute of Botany and the Botanic Garden, and also as a professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS). He is a co-author and editor of basic works on Polish vascular plants: Polish flora, Polish plants, as well as on Polish vegetation The vegetation of Poland. W. Szafer was the initiator of the creation of about 180 nature reserves and 6 national parks. He founded the Institute of Botany of the Polish Academy of Sciences (now The W. Szafer Institute of Botany PAS), and also the Research Centre for Nature Conservation PAS (now Institute of Nature Conservation PAS). He co-founded the International Documentation and Cooperation Office for Nature Conservation in Brussel, from which later the International Union for Conservation of Nature and its Resources (IUCN) was derived. In recognition of his merits, he was appointed in 1958 a honorary member of this organization. An important heritage of W.Szafer was the so-called Cracow geobotanical school, in which scientific investigations, and theoretical and practical foundations of nature protection were developed.