IGNACIO DOMEYKO: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Ignacio Domeyko Ancuta (1802-1889) was a Polish mining specialist and teacher, born in Niedzviadk, a town in Lithuania, in the north of present-day Poland.

Domeyko was an outstanding student in Mining at Vilma University, who rose up against the Russian government for the independence of Poland, suffered jail and lived in exile for several years in France.

Ignacio Domeyko Ancuta

In Paris, he continued his professional training in several prestigious institutions, until finally he traveled to Chile, attending a request from the government to join the Chilean educational system.

In Chile, he organized several expeditions of a scientific nature, founding institutions and training new generations of professionals, throughout an outstanding professional and teaching career, until his death 50 years later.

Among the most important achievements of Domeyko are the beginning of research and professional and technical training in areas related to Mining, Physics and Chemistry.

He had an important role in the growth of the recently founded University of Chile, subsequently the most important in the country, becoming its third Rector for 3 consecutive terms. In the same way, it had a vital participation in the formation of new mining and educational laws.

Likewise, the development of the mining sector in Chile, incipient at that time, is attributed to him, transforming it into an area of ​​knowledge and study, leaving an indelible mark for posterity.

Biography

Ignacio Domeyko was born on July 31, 1802, in the town of Niedzviadk, during that time part of Lithuania and under Russian occupation.

Studies

He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences from the prestigious Vilma University (Vilnius-Lithuania) in 1820.

In 1821, he joined a subversive group whose intention was the independence of Poland from the Russian Federation, which was neutralized. He remained in jail for 2 years and then achieved his freedom until he moved to Paris in 1830.

In exile, he continued his studies of Mines at various prestigious institutions such as the Sorbonne and the École Supérieure de Paris, where he completed his training in 1837.

His life in Chile

In 1838, the Chilean government invited him to join the teaching profession with a 5-year employment contract. He decided to fix his residence in Chile, where he initially worked as a professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the city of Coquimbo until 1946.

During that period he made several expeditions in various provinces of Chile, where he was able to appreciate the rudimentary techniques used in mining, as well as verify soils and geological conditions in the area.

In 1947 he was hired as a professor of Mineralogy by the National Institute, settling in the city of Santiago de Chile, where he was granted Chilean nationality in 1848.

In Santiago de Chile, he met Enriqueta Sotomayor, whom he married in 1850. They had three children.

He remained in Santiago for the rest of his life and there he devoted a large part of his professional and intellectual efforts to the development of mining science and teaching.

Death

He died of natural causes on January 23, 1889, in Santiago de Chile at the age of 87.

Contributions

In science

The undeniable contributions of Ignacio Domeyko to Mineralogy are recognized by Chilean scientific society to this day.

• He developed the area of ​​mining, based on prevailing scientific principles in Europe and whose basic principle was observation.
• In this sense, he conducted several scientific explorations to different regions of Chile, discovering new mining areas and evaluating the exploration and extraction conditions of the already known areas.
• He left written evidence of his geological explorations, as a study support for the future.
• It incorporated new techniques and fostered innovation in the mining area in Chile.
• It was able to notably reduce deforestation in extensive regions of Chile, which were smelting minerals with firewood, and progressively introduced the use of coal.
• He built several laboratories and smelting furnaces.

In teaching

• He modernized secondary education, where he worked as a teacher for several years.
• He created the La Serena y Coipapó Mining School.
• He contributed to the founding of the University of Chile.
• He was a founding member of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile in 1866 and transformed the teaching of science.
• He managed to train and graduate the first 14 mining engineers from the University of Chile.
• He promoted a program of instruction and experimentation based on science and technology.
• He was Rector of the University of Chile from 1867 to 1883, for three consecutive terms, until his resignation at 82 years of age.
• He carried out the first great university reform.

In society

• Member of the Review Commission of the National Mining Code.
• He delivered several ideas for legislation and mining property.
• Delivered legislative proposals on indigenous policy and immigration.
• He participated in the new Secondary and Higher Education Act in 1879.

Published works

Domeyko published several letters, documents, book chapters and complete texts, leaving reflected from his scientific explorations, to opinions, legislative proposals and academic texts. Between them we have:

-Memory on the most convenient way to reform public education in Chile (1842-43).

-Araucanía and its inhabitants (1846).

-The metalliferous deposits of Chile in relation to their geology and external configuration -Memory- (1876).

-Articles for Annals of the University of Chile:

• Trip to the Talca and Chillan mountain ranges (1849).
• Geography of Chile: exploration of the Llanquihue and Pichilaguna lagoons, Osorio and Calbuco volcanoes, Nahuelhuapi mountain range (1861).
• Geological excursion to the San Fernando mountain ranges (1862).
• Science, Literature and Fine Arts: relationship that exists between them. (1867).
• Letter to university delegation (1867).
• The mineral waters of Apoquindo (1866)
• Analysis of the mineral waters of Chile in 2 parts (1871).

References

1. Arreola, Pablo-Raúl. Of Conquest and Civilization: Ignacio Domeiko and the Indian question in Chile. The Polish Review. 1999, XLIV (1): 69-81. Recovered at: jstor.org
2. Domeyko, Peace. A life in exile: Ignacy Domeyko 1802-1889. Bellevue Hill 2005. Taken from trove.nla.gov.au
3. Domeyko, Ignacio. La Araucanía and its inhabitants. Fundamentals of Construction Library of Chile. 2010.Available at: library.cchc.cl
4. Schell, Patience. Natural history values ​​and meanings in nineteenth-century Chile. Royal Society of the History os Science. 2018.
5. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CHILE. Ignacio Domeyko (1802-1889). Chilean Memory. Available at memoriachilena.cl
6. Lastarria Cavero, Berta. Ignacio Domeyko and his time, 1802 - 1888. Universo Printing and Lithography Society. 1937. Available at memoriachilena.cl.