Zygmunt or Sigismond Laskowski (19 January 1841 – 15 April 1928) was a Polish physician, surgeon, and anatomist.

Life

Born 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 ...

, he studied at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

and in 1863 fought in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

. After its defeat he went into exile in France, completing his medical studies in Paris and London between 1864 and 1855. In 1866 he invented a new method of embalming and conserving anatomical specimens, for which he received medals at the Expositions Universelles of

1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...

and

1878 Events January * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: ...

as well as another medal 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 1869. Between 1869 and 1875 he was

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

of anatomy and surgery at the Faculty of Medicine within Paris's

University of France The University of France (; originally the ''Imperial University of France'') was a highly centralized educational state organization founded by Napoleon I in 1806 and given authority not only over the individual (previously independent) universiti ...

. He fought in the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

as head surgeon of a field ambulance unit, before serving in the Siege of Paris. He moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

at the invitation of the canton's state council, founding an anatomical museum there. He was a member of the 'Liga Narodowa' (National League), a clandestine organisation hoping to gain Polish independence. He gained an honorary doctorate from 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 1900, whilst his amateur astronomical studies led him to discover the supernova

V603 Aquilae V603 Aquilae (or Nova Aquilae 1918) was a bright nova first observed (from Earth) in the constellation Aquila in 1918. It was the brightest "new star" to appear in the sky since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Like all novae, it is a binary ...

, which he first observed on 9 June 1918.''The Contribution of Amateurs to Astronomy, Proceedings of Colloquium 98 of the International Astronomical Union, June 20–24, 1987'', page 41 He died in Geneva.

Works

* ''Les procédés de conservation des pièces anatomiques'' (1885) * ''L’embaumement et la conservation des sujets et des préparations anatomiques'' (1886) * ''Grand atlas anatomique'' (1877) * ''Atlas iconographique de l'anatomie normale du corps humain'' (1894).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laskowski, Zygmunt University of Warsaw alumni 1841 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Polish physicians 20th-century Polish physicians Polish surgeons Polish inventors French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War French people of Polish descent Polish participants of the January Uprising Polish anatomists Polish medical writers Polish military doctors Physicians from Warsaw Emigrants from Congress Poland to France Discoverers of supernovae Amateur astronomers