Ocean-going Yachtmaster, Gdańsk University of Technology graduate, naval engineer. She became the first woman to have sailed single-handed around the World (1976-1978).
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The 40th anniversary of the “Canoandes” Canoe Expedition 1981-2021
In 1981, members of the Canoandes expedition climbed to the heights of world exploration, conquering the world’s deepest Colca canyon in Peru as the first group ever.
For the next four decades, by initiating and implementing a number of exploratory, scientific and educational activities, they contributed to the development of the Colca Valley region, which has now become the country’s second tourist attraction after Machu Picchu.
The Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, whose members are the participants of the expedition, and the Academic Kayak Tourism Club “Bystrze” from Krakow, from where the expedition set out to conquer the mountain rivers of the Americas, decided to jointly organize the celebration of this anniversary. (Link>>)
In the fall of 2021, we are planning popular science symposiums, screenings of the documentary Godspeed, Los Polacos !, photo exhibitions in Poland, the United States and Peru, and the publication of a jubilee album.
| For the Polish Branch The Explorers Club | For the Management Board A.K.T.K. “BYSTRZE” (“Swift current”) |
| President Prof. dr hab. Mariusz Ziółkowski | President Izabela Brzeźna |
| Colca 1981 Photo: Jacek Bogucki From left to right: Andrzej Piętowski – leader of a discovery expedition, kayak, raft Piotr Chmieliński – leading kayaker Jacek Bogucki – filmmaker, raft crew Jerzy Majcherczyk – the captain of the raft Stefan Danielski – the crew of the raft Krzysztof Kraśniewski – the crew of the raft (Zbigniew BZDAK is missing – photographer, securing the expedition in Lima) | Extension of the Polish Avenue in Chivay to the hot springs of La Calera. Photo: Francisco Portugal, 2006 |
Alexander “Olo” Doba (1946-2021)
On February 22, departed a great traveler and kayaker who sailed three times across The Atlantic rowing alone in a kayak. He was a volcano of energy. With his accomplishments borders of the impossible were shifted.
Olo died in Tanzania while conquering Africa’s highest peak, Kilimanjaro fulfilling another travel dream.
We extend our deep sympathy to Olek’s Family.
Friends from the Polish Chapter of the Explorers Club
Aleksander Doba was the Laureate of the Special Mention awarded to him in 2015 by the Jury of the Prize Benedykt the Pole – read more on:
https://leczyca.info.pl/kultura/nagroda-im-benedykta-polaka/
Professor Jerzy Gąssowski (1926 – 2021)
June 9, 2017
(photo from https://leczyca.info.pl/kultura/)
With deep regret we inform that Professor Jerzy Gąssowski passed away on 1 st of February, 2021. He was an outstanding archaeologist who searched for and discovered the tomb of Nicolaus Copernicus in the Frombork Cathedral and laureate of the Benedict the Pole Award in 2017.
Funeral ceremonies will take place on February 11 at 11.00 A.M. (Holy Mass) in Warsaw at the Northern Cemetery – Wólka Węglowa (Funeral Home, room A).
Czytaj dalejALEKSANDER PIOTR CZEKANOWSKI (1833-1876)
Geologist, Palaeontologist, researcher of Siberia, he filled in the blanks in its map, and was responsible for mapping previously unknown geological regions of Russia
Aleksander Czekanowski’s father, Wawrzyniec, was a passionate entomologist and collector of insects. But it would be because of his son – prisoner of tsarist Russia, exiled barefoot to Siberia – that insects, arachnids, plants, mountains passes would carry his name…
Source: www.katalogmonet.pl
JAN CZERSKI (1845-1892)
Palaeontologist, Geologist, indefatigable Siberian researcher, pioneer researcher of the region between the great rivers of Indigirka and Kolyma
Jan Czerski, who for his participation in the January uprising against Russia was exiled as prisoner of the Tsar to the antipodes of the Russian empire, was also considered to be one of the most outstanding researchers of Siberia by some Russian scientists. His research of the Baikal “become the basis of the study of the tectonic development of the Asian continent, and the mountain ridges rising above them, and led him, for the first time in world science, to the concepts of geomorphologic evolution” – claimed the outstanding Soviet geographer L. S. Berg. According to the chroniclers of the Russian Geographical Society, this exiled visitor to Siberia, self-taught, surpassed the greatest local scientists with his acumen.
Czytaj dalejBENEDYKT TADEUSZ DYBOWSKI (1833-1930)
Naturalist, physician, explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka, distinguished contributor to the study of Lake Baikal, called the “father of Polish limnology”
“As a young boy in Lithuania, I heard stories about the life and deeds of Dybowski told by exiles returning from Siberia. In the long winter evenings I would avidly listen – as to the adventures of Robinson Crusoe – as Dybowski, Dubiecki and Kietliński built a hut in Darasun or chopped ice to set nets to catch the creatures of Lake Baikal; or as Dybowski, preparing for an expedition on the Amur river, built a ship and then as he helped out the lepers in the Commander Islands” recalled Julian Talko-Hrycewicz, professor of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow (Domaniewski, 1954). For his generation Benedykt Dybowski was a true hero.
Source: Słabczyński W., ”Polscy podróżnicy i odkrywcy”
JAN STANISŁAW KUBARY (1846-1896)
Traveller and researcher in the cultures of Oceania. Pioneer in studies of Micronesia. His ethnographic descriptions belong to the first such detailed reports from this part of Oceania
Source: Wikimedia Commons
(after Smolińska L., Sroka M., “Great known and unknown”, Warsaw 1988)
Born in Warsaw, which was then under Russian jurisdiction, in a Poland partitioned between the neighbouring states of Prussia, Russia and Austria. He studied medicine there. At the age of 17, he took part in the 1863 January Uprising against the Russians. In trying to avoid being sent to Siberia, he got fell into the snares of the tsarist secret police by accepting to work as an agent. To escape from these unfortunate connections and from the suspicion of his relatives, in 1868 he went to Berlin, and then to Hamburg, where he signed a contract with a wealthy owner of a museum specializing in ethnographic and natural history collections – Johann Cezar Godeffroy.
Czytaj dalejERNEST MALINOWSKI (1818 – 1899)
Designer and builder of Central Trans-Andean Railway, the highest situated rail in the world for over 100 years
At the altitude of 4818 m, the railroad weaves its path from the desert coast of the Pacific, where Lima is located, to Andean snow – “a miracle of nineteenth century engineering”. It was designed, constructed under dramatic circumstances, as well as funded by a Pole. It is astounding, how this engineering genius, Ernest Malinowski, who died childless, has been forgotten, even though his image appeared on Lima’s monuments.
Czytaj dalejKAZIMIERZ MICHAŁOWSKI (1901-1981)
Archaeologist, Egyptologist, art historian, creator of the “Polish school of Mediterranean Archaeology” linking research and conservation work.
In a few words, we, his students, remember Professor Kazimierz Michalowski as a Renaissance man, sensitive to the problems of the world, a passionate researcher, tempered by military discipline and patience, one that enjoyed life to the fullest. He was a positive thinker even in the most difficult moments.
Source: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
