Emil Racoviță was a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist, explorer of Antarctica and the first biologist in the world to study the arctic life.
The 1,300 specimens of flora and fauna of regions surveyed and collected by Racovita, have been studied by many researchers, who have described hundreds of forms unknown world in plant and animal. On the return he published a work on Cetaceans, in particular whale.
In 1900, he became deputy director of the Laboratory of Oceanology "Arago" in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France.
Following the discovery of new species of crustaceans in a cave Cueva del Drach of Mallorca, visited in 1904, the field fascinates him and give up research into oceanologie to dedicate underground ecosystems. The entry in the town there is a statue of Emil Racovita.
In 1907, it will publish "Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques", the first important work dedicated to biospeology in the world. Afterwards, he would initiate a international research program called "Biospeologica" meant to study cave fauna, at the beginning it was a private activity, but in 1920, he established in Cluj the first Institute of Speleology in the world. Besides numerous Romanian researchers, Racoviţă bring to Cluj a team of renowned biologists friends, two Frenchmen (Jules Guiart, René Jeannel) and Swiss (Alfred Chappuis).
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The Institute of Speleology founded by EG Racovitza in Romania, arrived in 2020 at its centennial anniversary. We recount the way in which the idea of an institution dealing with diverse research aspects of the subterranean domain, at the time accessible mainly through the exploration of the caves, became a reality. The favorable cultural atmosphere of the Laboratoire Arago, at Banyuls-sur-Mer, during the time when EG Racovitza worked there, played an important role for the creation of the first institute of speleology in the world. The history of the scientific activity of this institution, founded in 1920 at Cluj under the leadership of Racovitza is briefly recounted. The second part of the essay stresses the existential difficulties of this institute after the death of Racovitza in 1947 and the successes obtained after its reorganization in 1956 as a national centre of speleological research in Romania, nowadays widely recognized within the international scientific community. The long-term functioning of the institute is metaphorically compared to a “dynamical and multifunctional house”. The reasons for such a long existence depend on the personalities of the “house’s inhabitants” and their capacity for active production and communication of innovative research.
Read more Given lists of proposals on certification and accreditation of institutions and research and development units submitted by the Romanian Academy and the Advisory Board for Research and Development and Innovation, President of the National Authority for Scientific Research has validated accreditation the "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology as components of the research and development of national interest.
Read more Institutul de Speologie 'Emil Racoviţă', prin Laboratorul de Hidrogeochimie, este acreditat de către Organismul Naţional de Acreditare (RENAR) să efectueze actvităţi de încercări pe matrice de apă subterană, ape minerală şi ape de suprafaţă, conform Certificatului de Acreditare Nr. LI 1159.
