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25-619: On the expedition in the Gerlache Strait, biologist Emil Racoviță made several discoveries, including a flightless midge fly that was later formally named Belgica antarctica by the Belgian entomologist Jean-Charles Jacobs . The Gerlache Strait has spiky blue icebergs, and is widely considered a great spot for whale-watching. Four tectonic blocks are identifiable in the Gerlache Strait area, bounded by two systems of Tertiary strike-slip faults . The longitudinal faults include

50-410: A 75-meter-long (250 ft) canal through a six-meter-thick (20 ft) layer of ice, in order to generate a waterway by which to sail to a navigable body of water. Belgica returned to Europe in 1899 without two team-members, who had died during the expedition: Norwegian mariner Carl Wiencke (lost overboard), and Émile Danco {died natural causes}. Racoviță's diary, published in 1899, makes mention of

75-575: A family estate, in Șurănești , Vaslui County , he started his education in Iași, where he had Ion Creangă as a teacher, and continued his secondary education at the Institutele Unite , a private high school for boys in Iași, taking his baccalauréat in 1886. He then studied law at the University of Paris , obtaining a law degree in 1889. But he did not pursue a law career, instead turning to

100-657: A photographic image in purple-blue dye which he named the Mucographé process. Examples are preserved in the Sorbonne and the Royal Society in London. He conducted pioneer exploration of marine life of coastal Algeria , that included scientific studies of coral . A result of this research was the publication of " Histoire naturelle du corail " (1864). He was the founder of two laboratories devoted to marine biology ;

125-544: A professor of zoology in Lille . In 1865, he succeeded Achille Valenciennes (1794–1865) as chair of histoire naturelle des mollusques, des vers et des zoophytes at the National Museum of Natural History, France , and in 1868 became a professor at the University of Paris . In 1871, he was elected to French Academy of Sciences in the department of anatomy and zoology. Lacaze-Duthiers is remembered for his study of

150-470: A two-month expedition to Antarctica. The Washington Post reported that the most dangerous part of their journey was a their crossing of the Gerlache Straight on a raft. The writer Dianne Ackerman said she went to Gerlache Strait in the 1990s in order to find inspiration for writing prose. In 2002, Lynne Cox became the first person to swim a mile in the near-freezing Antarctic Ocean . She did

175-436: A whole year. The scientists also collected information on oceanic currents and terrestrial magnetism , with as many as 10 volumes of scientific conclusions being published at the end of the expedition, which was considered a success. The expedition encountered several hardships. Between 10 March 1898 and 14 March 1899, Belgica was caught between ice blocks, making it impossible to sail any further. The crew had to carve

200-864: Is the Emil Racoviță Cave  [ ro ] , located in Criva, Briceni ; with an area of 50 hectares (120 acres), it is the largest cave in Moldova and the third longest cave in Europe. The other one is the Racoviță Cave  [ ro ] , located in Iabalcea , Caraș-Severin County . In 2006, the first Romanian Antarctic exploration station was named the Law-Racoviță Station (known since 2011 as

225-496: The Law-Racoviță-Negoiță Station ). Poșta Română issued several stamps in his honor: 55  bani and 1.20  lei stamps in 1958, a 55 bani stamp in 1968, a 4 lei stamp in 1985, a 2 lei stamp in 1986, a 4.50 lei stamp in 1997, and a 1.60 lei stamp in 2007. The last one is part of a series of four stamps ( Scott 4911–4914) commemorating 100 years since the foundation by Racoviță of

250-941: The Academy from 1926 to 1929. In the aftermath of the Second Vienna Award of August 1940, the Faculty of Sciences and the Institute of Speleology at the University of Cluj were forced to move out of the city and take refuge in Timișoara . After World War II , Racoviță made great efforts to reorganize the institute. He died in November ;1947 in Cluj-Napoca, and was buried in the city's Hajongard Cemetery . There are two caves named after him. One

275-665: The SW-NE trending Neumayer Fault that extends from Peltier Channel across Wiencke Island , and then onwards most likely as the Gerlache Fault. The SW-NE trending Fournier Fault parallels the Gerlache Fault and divides Anvers Island . The transverse faults trend E-W and SE-NW across Wiencke Island and Brabant Island , and include the Schollaert Channel faults. The Danco Coast Block extends from Cape Willems to Wilhelmina Bay . The Brabant Island Block encompasses

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300-483: The anatomy and developmental history of mussels , coral , snails , brachiopods and other invertebrate marine animals. In 1858, he discovered three mollusks in the Mediterranean that produced purple-blue dyes. One of the species, named murex trunculus , was the source of the distinctive purple-blue dye used by the ancient Phoenicians and Canaanites . He realised the dying process could be used to create

325-667: The biology department at the Upper Dacia University in Cluj-Napoca , and served as Rector of the University from 1929 to 1930. He founded the world's first speleological institute there on 26 April 1920, first as a section which was, however, to function independently since 1956, with professor Constantin Motas. In 1920, he became a titular member of the Romanian Academy , and served as President of

350-528: The department of Lot-et-Garonne . He was a leading authority in the field of malacology . He studied medicine in Paris , and worked at Necker Hospital under Armand Trousseau (1801–1867). Later on, with Jules Haime (1824–1856), he travelled to the Balearic Islands to study marine life. In 1854, he returned to Paris as an assistant to Henri Milne-Edwards (1800–1885), and soon afterwards became

375-545: The difficulties that the team-members had to endure. Photos of the time show that he was hardly recognisable after returning from the expedition. The results of his research were published in 1900, under the title La vie des animaux et des plantes dans l'Antarctique ("The life of animals and plants in Antarctica"). A year after his return, Racoviță was appointed director of the Banyuls-sur-Mer resort and editor of

400-522: The first biospeleology institute in the world. In 2018, on the 150th anniversary of Racoviță's birth, the National Bank of Romania put into circulation a commemorative silver coin with a face value of 10 lei. Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers Félix Joseph Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (15 May 1821 – 21 July 1901) was a French biologist , anatomist and zoologist born in Montpezat in

425-524: The natural sciences. His mentor was zoologist and biologist Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers , a professor at the Sorbonne and at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle . Racoviță earned a B.S. degree in 1891, and a Ph.D. degree in 1896, for a thesis on Le lobe cephalique et l’encéphale des Annélides Polychète ("The cephalous lobe and the encephalon of polychaetous annelids "). As a student, Racovița

450-463: The review Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générale . Racoviță continued his research, contributing to speleology and exploring over 1,400 caves in France, Spain, Algeria, Italy, and Slovenia. He is considered to be, together with René Jeannel , one of the founders of biospeleology . He was particularly interested in isopoda , of which he discovered many. In 1919, Racoviță became head of

475-745: The southern portion of that island. The Neumayer Channel Block is bound by the Neumayer Fault and the Fournier Fault. The Anvers-Melchior Islands Block includes northwest Anvers Island and its offshore islands Melchior Islands . Gerlache Straight can be viewed from Spigot Peak. In 1934, polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth reported in the New York Times that a heavy snowstorm and ice made it necessary to change his plan for going from De Gerlache Strait out to sea and south to Adelaide Island . In 1979, four American adventurers survived

500-417: The swim in Gerlache Strait. In 2021, a couple on a ship in the Gerlache Straight captured footage of a gentoo penguin narrowly escaping a few hungry killer whales. 64°30′S 62°20′W  /  64.500°S 62.333°W  / -64.500; -62.333 Emil Racovi%C8%9B%C4%83 Emil Gheorghe Racoviță ( Romanian: [eˈmil ˈrakovit͡sə] ; 15 November 1868 – 19 November 1947)

525-499: The vessel was Roald Amundsen  – who was to conquer the South Pole in 1911. Apart from Racoviță, the team was made up of Belgian physicist Émile Danco , Polish geologist and oceanographer Henryk Arctowski with his assistant Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski and American physician Frederick Cook . The team left the deck of the ship 22 times, in order to collect scientific data, to conduct investigations and experiments. Racoviță

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550-673: Was a Romanian biologist , zoologist , speleologist , and Antarctic explorer . Together with Grigore Antipa , he was one of the most noted promoters of natural sciences in Romania. Racoviță was the first Romanian to have gone on a scientific research expedition to the Antarctic. He was an influential professor, scholar and researcher, and served as President of the Romanian Academy from 1926 to 1929. Born in Iași , he grew up on

575-584: Was also the ship's owner. On 16 August 1897, under the aegis of the Royal Society of Geography in Brussels , the Belgica , a former Norwegian wooden whaler , left the port of Antwerp , setting sail for the South. It was the ship that gave its name to the whole expedition. The three-mast ship was equipped with a 160 horse-power engine. The 19 members of the team were of various nationalities. The first mate of

600-616: Was attracted to socialism . He was a founding member of the Second International , as well as a leading member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Romania . As a promising young scientist, Racoviță was selected to be part of an international team that started out on a research expedition to Antarctica, aboard the Belgica . The expedition was led by the Belgian officer Adrien de Gerlache , who

625-501: Was the first researcher to collect botanical and zoological samples from areas beyond the Antarctic Circle . He found the first flowering plants that were collected in Antarctica, and collected the type specimens of the flightless midge Belgica antarctica , the only insect that can survive year-round in Antarctica. Belgica made the first daily meteorological recordings and measurements in Antarctica, every hour, for

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