Maksymilian Nowicki
Maksymilian Siła-Nowicki was a Polish zoology professor and pioneer conservationist in Austrian Poland, and father of the poet Franciszek Nowicki. He was brother-in-law to Kraków University law professor and rector Franciszek Kasparek.Career
Nowicki began his career as a teacher in the countryside of eastern Galicia, and by dint of ambition and self-education eventually became a professor of zoology at Kraków University. In 1873, he was inducted into the Kraków-based Academy of Learning. Also in 1873, he co-founded the Tatras Society. In 1879, he founded the National Fishing Society. His greatest academic achievements were in entomology, ichthyology and ornithology.
Nowicki sought to give a practical bent to his research. He wrote: "In the interest of husbandry in this country, it is appropriate to develop a knowledge of animals that are harmful to husbandry... and of animals that are useful to ." It was chiefly thanks to him that the Galician Sejm in 1868 passed a law protecting chamois, marmots and Alpine birds in the Tatra Mountains.
Nowicki was the initiator of, and driving force behind, the Physiographic Commission of the Academy of Learning, and was a member of many other learned societies.
