AASP Primary Records Program

PALYNOS 13(2): p. 5, 1990.

ALEKSANDER JACHOWICZ
(1928-1989)

Aleksander Jachowicz, one of Poland's leading palynologists, died on the 15th of August, 1989, after a short but severe illness, at the age of 61. He was Professor of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy at the University of Silesia (Sosnowiec) where he was for several years Deputy Rector and Head of the Department of Earth Sciences.

Aleksander Jachowicz was born on February 26, 1928 at Grybow in southern Poland and went to school there. During the German occupation, he began his secondary education at an illegal (underground) school, acting at the same time as a liaison for illegal secondary schools in the Nowy Sacz district. It was at this time that he became interested in botany and geology, and especially in collecting fossils.

After his graduation in Geology in 1952 at the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow, Aleksander Jachowicz started working with Professor Tadeusz Bochenski, who introduced him to the geology of coal resources, coal petrography and palaeobotany. The first of his major publications, co-authored with his wife, Sonia Dybova-Jachowicz, appeared in 1957. This paper, entitled "Microspores of the Upper Silesian Coal Measures," marked the beginning of the study of Carboniferous miospores in Poland. The paper introduced the first spore-based zonal scheme for the Upper Carboniferous and is one of the few referred to in almost all palynological publications concerning European Carboniferous strata. In subsequent publications, the zonal scheme was refined and supplemented.

Professor Jachowicz also worked and published on the Lower Carboniferous palynology of the Holy Cross Mountains and the Carboniferous of the Lublin Coal Basin. During his scientific career he published 90 papers on palynology, in addition to contributions on the geology of the Silesian Coal Measures.

Until the early 1970's, Aleksander Jachowicz worked for the Geological Survey of Poland and for some time headed the Upper Silesia branch of the Survey. In 1974 he became associated with the University of Silesia and became the architect of the newly formed Department of Earth Sciences. The Chair of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy in that department was really his creation. He was a most successful and dedicated teacher and creator of ingenious teaching programs. Teaching and leading the department were the joys of his life until his final days.

In palynology, Aleksander Jachowicz cooperated extensively with his colleagues in many other countries. He was from the early 1960's onwards an active member of C.I.M.P., which under his guidance organized a number of very suc- cessful palynological meetings and workshops in Sosnowiec. He was an excellent colleague, a good teacher and a kind person who will be greatly missed By all who knew him.

Elzbieta Turnau
Inst. Nauk Geologicznych
Polska Akademia Nauk
Ul. Senacka 3
31-002 Krakow, Poland