Józef Paczoski


Józef Konrad Paczoski was an eminent Polish botanist, who coined the term "Phytosociology" and was one of the founders of this branch of botany.

Early life and education

Paczoski was born on 8 December 1864 in Byalohorodka near Iziaslav, Ukraine in Volhynia. From 1877 he studied botany at faculty of Biological Science at Jagiellonian University and Kiev University under the guidance of Ivan Ivanovich Schmalhausen.

Career

He was an early pioneer of the science of phytosociology, the study of natural plant communities. In 1896 he coined the term "phytosociology". In 1923 he became a scientific manager of the forest reserves in the Białowieża Forest. He did much of his research on the vegetation of the Białowieża National Park. From 1925 to 1931 he was Professor of Plant Systematics and Sociology at Poznań University, where he established the first Institute of Plant Sociology in the world.
He was a member of the Polish Academy of Learning, the predecessor of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Death

He died on 14 February 1942 in Sierosław near Poznań, Poland of a heart attack, when he heard that his grandson had been injured by the Gestapo as Poland was occupied at that time by Nazi Germany.

Plant species named after Jozef Paczoski