Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology - Early History

Early History

It was founded in 1918/19, shortly after the reestablishment of Poland as an independent country. It was based on three pre-existing laboratories affiliated with the Scientific Society of Warsaw (Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie): Laboratory of Neurobiology (in existence since 1911), Laboratory of Physiology (in existence since 1913) and Laboratory of General Biology (established in 1918). Formation and development of the Institute was supported in part by a donation of Nadine Sieber-Shumova, a close co-worker of Marceli Nencki from Berne and St. Petersburg.

Over the next two decades the Institute gained prominence in the field of biological research in Poland. One of its major figures was the neurophysiologist Jerzy Konorski who discovered secondary conditioned reflexes. The outbreak of World War II interrupted a period of its intensive expansion and the achievement of scientific excellence in the field of experimental biology.

During World War II, over a dozen of the Institute's staff lost their lives, and its premises (including most of its 30,000-volume library) were destroyed.

Read more about this topic:  Nencki Institute Of Experimental Biology

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:

    I could be, I discovered, by turns stern, loving, wise, silly, youthful, aged, racial, universal, indulgent, strict, with a remarkably easy and often cunning detachment ... various ways that an adult, spurred by guilt, by annoyance, by condescension, by loneliness, deals with the prerogatives of power and love.
    —Gerald Early (20th century)

    “And now this is the way in which the history of your former life has reached my ears!” As he said this he held out in his hand the fatal letter.
    Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)