Grigore Antipa

Grigore Antipa
Born	November 27, 1867 Botoșani,United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
Died	March 9, 1944(1944-03-09)(aged 76) Bucharest,Kingdom of Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Known for	Founder of the Romanian School of Hydrobiology and Ichthyology Creator of the Bioceanographic Institute inConstanța(1932) Director of theNational Museum of Natural History(1892 - 1944)

Grigore Antipa(Romanian pronunciation:[ɡriˈɡoreanˈtipa];27 November 1867 inBotoșani– 9 March 1944 inBucharest) was aRomaniannaturalist,zoologist,ichthyologist,ecologist,oceanologist,Darwinistbiologist who studied the fauna of theDanube Deltaand theBlack Sea.Between 1892 and 1944 he was the director of theBucharest Natural History Museum,which now bears his name. He is also considered to be the first person to modernize thedioramaby emphasizing the three-dimensional aspect and first to use dioramas in a museum setting. He is the scientist who reorganized theGrigore Antipa National Museum of Natural Historyin the new building that today bears his name, designed by the architect Grigore Cerchez, built in 1906 and inaugurated byCarol I of Romaniain 1908.He was elected as member of theRomanian Academyin 1910 and was also a member of several foreign academies. Grigore Antipa founded a school of hydrobiology and ichthyology in Romania.

Biography

Grigore Antipa spent his childhood inBotoșani,in a neighborhood inhabited by manyArmeniansandJews,who taught him in foreign languages. His father was alawyer,but he lost his parents early and was raised by his aunts in a modest environment. Thanks to his older brother, Nicolae, who was aparasitologist,he obtained a royal scholarship and studied atJena(Germany), with the famous naturalistErnst Haeckel(1834-1919), the inventor ofecology.He submitted his dissertationDie Lucernariden der Bremer Expedition nach Ostspitzbergen im Jahre 1889. Nebst Anh. üb. rudimentäre Tentakel bei Lucernaridenin 1891 and obtained hisDr. phil..

Afterwards continued his scientific research inFranceandItaly.A study on the evolution of thethymusinfishdates from this period.

Career

Caliacra marine biology station of the Bio-Oceanographic Institute of Constanța in 1937 and in 2007.

Diorama made by Grigore Antipa, representing the extinctBlack Seamonk seals(Monachus monachus albiventer).

Near theisland of Capri(Italy), Antipa discovered a new species of fixedjellyfish,Capria sturdzii.He devoted himself to the study of theDanubeand theBlack Sea.

Antipa founded in 1932 the Biooceanographic Institute ofConstanța,with the two reservations and research stations, the one in Agigea (created byIoan Borcea) and the one atCape Caliacra.

Grigore Antipa, with the support of kings Carol I andFerdinand,devised a plan for the rational exploitation of fisheries in the Danube meadow and delta, and in the estuaries (theBessarabianandDobrogeanestuaries north and south of theDanube mouths). The ecological policy of optimizing natural phenomena, called by Grigore Antipageonomywas replaced by one to counteract them, which logically led to the acceleration of canal currents, eutrophication of stagnant areas, and the collapse of fish productivity (partially offset today throughfish farming).

He was director of theGrigore Antipa National Museum of Natural History(1892 - 1944). His paperPrincipes et moyens pour la réorganisation des musées d'histoire naturellewas published in 1934. Starting from the reorganization of the Bucharest museum, in 1907 biological dioramas were used for the first time. The first dioramas illustrated theCarpathian Mountains,theBărăgan Plain,and theDanube Delta.The Museum of Natural History also has dioramas depicting the fauna of thetundra,prairie,savannahorSaharadesert regions. Several museums worldwide asked for his assistance as a consultant as a result of this work. Grigore Antipa was a member of theRomanian Academy

Works

• On the need to introduce a systematic fish farming in Romanian waters(1892)
• Studies on fisheries in Romania(1895)
• Draft Law on Fisheries(1896)
• The Fischerei-Verlaltnisse Rumaniens(1899)
• Ichthyological fauna of Romania(1909)
• Fisheries and the flood region of the Danube in the national and world economy(1932)
• Iconography of Black Sea Sturgeons and Clupeids(1934)
• The Black Sea and its ichthyology(1941)

In memoriam

TheNational Museum of Natural HistoryinBucharestis named after the scientist, as well as the National Institute for Marine Research and Development "Grigore Antipa" inConstanța.

One of the annual awards given by the Romanian Academy is named after Grigore Antipa.

Also, the marine research ship "Grigore Antipa", which belongs to the Diving Center in Constanța, bears his name.

TheDanube delta gudgeon,Romanogobio antipaiis named after him as he collected the type specimen.

Notaphilia and numismatics

A banknote of 1992 with Grigore Antipa

In 1992, theNational Bank of Romaniaissued a circulationbanknote,with a face value of 200lei,with the portrait of Grigore Antipa on the obverse.

On December 4, 2017, the National Bank of Romania put into circulation agoldcommemorative coin, with a face value of 100 lei, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Antipa. The coin has afinenessof 900 (90% pure gold), weighs 6.452 g (0.2276 oz), has a diameter of 21 mm (0.83 in), and has a serrated edge; it has been issued in 250 copies, all ofproof quality.

External links

• Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent – A
• Site-ul Muzeului Național de Istorie Naturală „Grigore Antipa”
• Doi deschizători de drumuri
• FOTO Grigore Antipa, călător în Delta Dunării. Marele savant s-a implicat în ajutorarea pescarilor din Jurilovca