Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko, pseudonym: ''Żegota'' (, ; 31 July 1802 – 23 January 1889) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

, educator, and founder of the University of Santiago, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Domeyko spent most of his life, and died, in his adopted country, Chile. After a youth passed in

partitioned Poland Partition may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Partition'' (1987 film), directed by Ken McMullen * ''Partition'' (2007 film), directed by Vic Sarin * '' Partition: 1947'', or ''Viceroy's House'', a 2017 film Music * Par ...

, Domeyko participated in the Polish–Russian War 1830–31. Upon Russian victory, he was exiled, spending part of his life in France (where he had gone with a fellow

Philomath A philomath () is a lover of learning and studying. The term is from Greek (; "beloved", "loving", as in philosophy or philanthropy) and , (, ; "to learn", as in polymath). Philomathy is similar to, but distinguished from, philosophy in that ...

, Polish poet

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. He also largely influenced Ukra ...

) before eventually settling in

, whose

citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

he became. He lived some 50 years in Chile and made major contributions to the study of that country's

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

. His observations on the circumstances of poverty-stricken

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

and of their wealthy exploiters had a profound influence on those who would go on to shape

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

. Domeyko is seen as having had close ties to several countries and thus in 2002, when

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

organized a series of commemorations of the 200th anniversary of his birth, he was referred to as "a citizen of the world".CULTURAL BULLETIN 21 (165)
Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002

Life

Early life

Ignacy Domeyko was born in the then

Russian partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...

of the former

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, at

Niedźwiadka Wielka Niedźwiadka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stanin, within Łuków County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Stanin, west of Łuków, and north-west of the regional capital Lublin ...

() Manor (Bear Cub Manor) near

Nieśwież Nyasvizh or Nesvizh is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Nyasvizh District. Nyasvizh is the site of Nesvizh Castle, a World Heritage Site. In 2009, its population was 14,300. As of 2025, it has a populat ...

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

(now

Karelichy Karelichy is an urban-type settlement in Grodno Region, in west-central Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Karelichy District. As of 2025, it has a population of 5,546. History It was a possession of the Grand Duchy of Lithuani ...

district,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

). The Domeyko family held the Polish ''Dangiel''

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. Ignacy's father, Hipolit Domeyko, who was president of the local land court (), died when Ignacy was seven years old; the boy's uncles then served as his guardians. In his youth Ignacy was a subject of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He had, however, been brought up in the culture of the

, a multicultural state whose educated and dominant classes had spoken Polish as a ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

''. Shortly before Domeyko's birth, the Commonwealth had been dismembered in the

partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign ...

. For this reason, and because Domeyko subsequently spent most of his life in

, he is considered a person of national importance to

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Lithuanians Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...

, and

Chileans Chileans (, ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the country of Chile and its neighboring insular territories. Most Chileans share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. The overwhelming majority of Chileans are the product o ...

. Domeyko enrolled at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

, then known as the Imperial University of Vilna, in 1816 as a student of mathematics and physics. He studied under

Jędrzej Śniadecki Jędrzej Śniadecki (archaic Andrew Sniadecki; ; 30 November 1768 – 11 May 1838) was a Polish writer (essayist and satirist), physician, chemist, biologist and philosopher. His achievements include being the first person who linked rickets to ...

. Involved with the

Philomaths The Philomaths, or Philomath Society ( or ''Towarzystwo Filomatów'', or ''Filomatų draugija''; from the Greek φιλομαθεῖς "lovers of knowledge"), was a secret student organization that existed from 1817 to 1823 at the Imperial U ...

, a secret student organisation dedicated to Polish culture and the restoration of Poland's independence, he was a close friend of

. In 1823–24, during the investigation and trials of the Philomaths, Domeyko and Mickiewicz spent months incarcerated at Vilnius' Uniate Basilian monastery. After participating in the November 1830 Uprising, in which Domeyko served as an officer under General

Dezydery Chłapowski Baron Dezydery Adam Chłapowski (1788 in Turew – 27 March 1879) of the Dryja coat of arms was a Polish general, businessman and political activist. Early life His father Józef Chłapowski (born 1756, died 1826) was the baron of Kościan C ...

, in 1831 Domeyko was forced into

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

in order not to face

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n reprisals.

Exile

Journeying through Germany, he arrived in France, where he would earn an engineering degree at Paris' ''

École des Mines École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

'' (School of Mining). He also studied at the Sorbonne and maintained his political engagements with Belarusians, Poles, and Lithuanians.

Chile

In 1838 Domeyko left for

. There he made substantial contributions to

and the technology of mining, studied several previously unknown

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): M ...

, advocated for the

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

of the native tribal peoples, and was a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

and

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

. He is also credited with introducing the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that standardization, standardizes a set of base units and a nomenclature for describing relatively large and small quantities via decimal-based multiplicative unit prefixes. Though the rules gover ...

to Latin America. He served as a professor at a mining college in

Coquimbo Coquimbo is a port List of cities in Chile, city, Communes of Chile, commune and capital of the Elqui Province, located on the Pan-American Highway, in the Coquimbo Region of Chile. Coquimbo is situated in a valley south of La Serena, Chile, La S ...

( La Serena) and after 1847 at the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

(''Universidad de Chile'', in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

), of which he was rector for 16 years (1867–83). Domeyko gained Chilean citizenship in 1849, but declared at the time that "I may now never change my citizenship, but God grants me hope that wherever I may be—whether in the

Cordillera A cordillera is a chain or network of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly used in physical geogra ...

s or in he Vilnius suburb of">Vilnius.html" ;"title="he Vilnius">he Vilnius suburb ofPaneriai—I shall die a Lithuanian."UNESCO
Ignotas Domeika 200
Retrieved on 2008-07-24 The term "Lithuanian" at that time designated any inhabitant, whatever his ethnicity, of the territories of the former

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. In 1884 Domeyko returned for an extended visit to Europe and remained there until 1889, visiting his birthplace and other places in the former Commonwealth, as well as Paris and Jerusalem. In 1887 he was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

by the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

, in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. In 1889, soon after returning to Santiago, Chile, Domeyko died.

Memorials

Named in honour of Domeyko are: * the plant genus '' Domeykoa,'' whose species range from Peru to Chile, * the mineral ''

domeykite Domeykite is a copper arsenide mineral, Cu3As. It crystallizes in the isometric system, although crystals are very rare. It typically forms as irregular masses or botryoidal forms. It is an opaque, white to gray (weathers brassy) metallic minera ...

'', * the shellfish '' Nautilus domeykus'', * the dinosaur genus '' Domeykosaurus'', * the ammonite '' Amonites domeykanus'', * the

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

'' 2784 Domeyko'', * the ''

Cordillera Domeyko The Cordillera Domeyko is a mountain range of the Andes located in northern Chile, west of Salar de Atacama. It runs north-south for approximately 600 km, parallel to the main chain. The mountain range marks the eastern border of the flat p ...

'' mountain range in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, and * the

an town of '' Domeyko''. BustoDomeyko

A bronze bust of Domeyko stands in the

Casa Central de la Universidad de Chile The Casa Central de la Universidad de Chile, also known as ''Palacio de la Universidad de Chile'', is the main building for the University of Chile, Universidad de Chile, and is located at 1058 Alameda (Santiago), Alameda Libertador Bernardo O'Hig ...

, of which Domeyko was long-time rector. In 1992, a plaque in Spanish and

was placed on a building at '' Krakowskie Przedmieście 64'', in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland, commemorating the "distinguished son of the Polish nation and eminent citizen of Chile." On the 200th anniversary of his birth,

declared 2002 to be "Ignacy Domeyko Year." Several commemorative events were held in Chile under the auspices of Polish President

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served the maximum two terms as the president of Poland from 1995 to 2005. His tenure as President was marked by modernization of Poland, rapid economi ...

and Chilean President

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

. In 2002, Poland and Chile jointly issued a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

commemorating the 200th anniversary of Domeyko's birth. Also in 2002, a 200th-birthday plaque honoring him was placed in the entry gate to

Uniate The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

Basilian monastery in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania, where he and

were held in 1823–24 during the investigation and trials of the

. In 2015 a

ian climber Pavel Gorbunov placed a memorial plate on the top of Cerro Kimal in

Notes

References

* Polish language * Polish language * Polish language * Polish language * Portuguese language *
review
Polish language * Paz Domeyko Lea-Plaza. Ignacio Domeyko. La Vida de un Emigrante. Santiago, Chile.2002. Random House Mondadori (Editorial Sudamericana) Spanish language * Paz Domeyko. A Life in Exile. Ignacy Domeyko 1802-1889. Sydney, Australia 2005. }.9. English language. Available from author. See website Paz Domeyko, www.domeyko.org

External links

Works of Ignacy Domeyko
in the digital library Polona. *
Memoirs of Ignacy Domeyko
*
2002 Polish conference on Ignacy Domeyko
. Contains a selection of articles and book reviews, some in English * Honorata Szocik

Nasz Czas 37 (576) * Proceedings of a 2002

ian conference about Domeyko.
Ignacy Domeyko. Polymath Virtual Library, Fundación Ignacio LarramendiMuseum about Polish Explorer Being Built in Chile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Domeyko, Ignacy 1802 births 1889 deaths People from Karelichy district People from Novogrudsky Uyezd 19th-century Lithuanian nobility 19th-century Polish nobility Polish Roman Catholics 19th-century Chilean geologists Chilean geographers Chilean people of Polish descent 19th-century Polish geologists Polish geologists 19th-century geographers Polish geographers Mineralogists Scholars from the Russian Empire Chilean ethnologists Emigrants from the Russian Empire Immigrants to Chile November Uprising participants Vilnius University alumni Mines Paris - PSL alumni Heads of the University of Chile