Petro Prokopovych (1775–1850, ) was a Ukrainian beekeeper who made revolutionary contributions to the practice. They include the founding of commercial

beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are ...

and the invention of the first movable frame hive. He introduced novelties in traditional beekeeping that allowed great progress in the practice. Among his most important inventions was a hive frame in a separate honey chamber of his beehive. He also invented a crude queen excluder between brood and honey chambers. Petro Prokopovych was also the first to ever model a 'bee beard' after delineating and calculating 'bee swarm behaviour", inspiring students for generations.

Biography

Prokopovych was born in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(then part 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 ...

), in the village of near Baturyn on June 29, 1775, into a clerical family of priests of Ukrainian Cossack descent. Starting at the age of eleven, he studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy for eight years. After studies he committed to a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

career. He resigned his commission in 1798, bearing officer rank, and enjoyed retirement at his brother's apiary. By 1808 Prokopovych had 580 beehives. Ruche Prokopowitsh

Prokopovych studied the biology of bee colonies and strove to improve existing methods of beekeeping. Stamp of Ukraine s329

His main intention was to develop methods that allowed the least disturbance and damage to bees. These efforts resulted in 1814 in the invention of the world's first frame hive, which allowed an easier honey harvest. Another invention was a wooden partition with apertures passable only by worker bees, now called a queen excluder. It made possible the harvest of pure honey from the frames. Prokopovych's inventions represented a landmark in the history of beekeeping and marked the beginning of commercial beekeeping. His scientific work resulted in more than sixty articles in printed media such as

newspapers A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

and magazines. Prokopovych's revelatory invention of the world's first dismountable and portable frame hive allowed keepers to freely inspect the bee colonies and remove honey without destroying the bees. Previously the usual practice was to kill all the bees with smoke before taking the honey. Another passion of Prokopovych was teaching. He set up a beekeeping school that prepared more than 700 qualified beekeepers over its 53 years of existence. As a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ...

, Prokopovych owned 6600 colonies and became wealthy. Prokopovych was buried in the village of Palchyky, currently in Nizhyn Raion of

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

, where his beekeepers' school was located. A monument to Prokopovych stands there, and the Ukrainian Institute of Beekeeping is named after him. In 2015 a 2 Hryvni coin was crafted to commemorate his contribution to Ukrainian beekeeping and sustainable commercial agronomy.

References

Sources

Beekeeping in Ukraine

Article about Prokopovych
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prokopovych, Petro Beekeeping pioneers Military personnel of the Russian Empire Inventors from the Russian Empire Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumni 1775 births 1850 deaths Ukrainian beekeepers Ukrainian inventors