former geologist, mineralogist, ethnologist of the former GDL and Chile, participant of the 1831 uprising, rector of the University of Chile in Santiago, honorary citizen of the Republic of Chile.
Born in Nedzviadka, Naugarduk County (now Belarus), in a Polish-speaking family of the GDL gentry. The second of five children in the family. Ignas's father, Antanas Ipolitas Domeika (1764-1809), was the chairman of the court of the Zemstvos of Naugarduk. His mother Karolina (?-1832) came from the famous Ancuty family of the area. In addition to Ignatius, their family included their eldest son Adam Jonas Xeveras Felicionas (1789-1832), their younger son Kazimeras (1803-1875), and two sisters, Maria (?-1834) and Antanina (1805-1881).
The sources give three different dates of birth for I. Domeika. The 1816-1817 Vilnius University student registration book states that I. Domeika was born in 1801 (without month and day). The Polish publication Słownik geograficzny... (1886) states that he was born on 22 August 1801. This date is also given in Lithuanian encyclopaedias. Another Polish publication, Słownik bibliograficzny (1939), states that Domeika was born on 3 July 1802. His actual date of birth, however, is 31 July 1802,
School and years of study
Since 1812 he studied at the Piarist school in Shchutin, from which he graduated in 1816. This school was attended and graduated by Stanislovas Bonifacas Jundzilas (who founded a botanical garden in Ščiutin), Motiejus Dogelis, Kazimieras Narbutas and other famous scientific and social figures of the time.
A great influence on Ignas Domeika during this period was Anupras Petraškevičius (Pietraszkiewicz, 1793-1863), the governor of the school of Ignat and his brother Adam, who later studied at the Physics and Mathematics Department of Vilnius University. He was one of the founders of the Philomath Society, the keeper of its archives, a participant in the 1831 uprising, and a Siberian exile.
After graduating from the Piarist school in Shchutin in 1816, he moved to Vilnius in the same year (he lived in the house of Biesas in Pilies Street) and, at the age of just fourteen, entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of Vilnius University. He took courses in mineralogy, mathematics, chemistry, geometry, natural history, civil and military architecture, mechanics, astronomy, architecture, geometric and optical applied drawing, taught by Mykolas Pelka-Polinsky, Jonas Sniadecki, Petras Slavinskis, Andrius Sniadecki, Karolis Podczašinskis, Stanislovas Bonifacas Jundzilas, Feliksas Dževinskis, Ignotas Horodetskis and others.
June 25, 1822. Jak dotąd tlumaczono zasady rachunku rózniczkowego I jak w dzisiejszym stane matematiki należy je tłumaczyć). After that, he attended lectures by the astronomer Piotr Slavinski, and in 1823 by the philosopher Joseph Gluchowski and the historian Joachim Lelewel.
Participation in the activities of the Philomaths
Since 1819, he has been actively involved in the Philomaths: he was admitted as a Corresponding member on 23 November 1819, and became a Full member on 5 May 1820. In 1823, when the Philomath Society was repressed by the tsarist administration, Domeika was arrested in mid-November 1823 together with the other members of the Society and imprisoned in the Vilnius Basilian Monastery. Released in early 1824, he was obliged to live under police supervision on his family estate, without the right to leave or to hold any public office. In 1830, police supervision was lifted and I. Domeika became a member of the Grodno Sejm.
He took part in the 1831 uprising and fought in the units of Khlopovsky, together with Dezideras Adomas Khlopovsky, Emilia Pliateryte, Cezary and Vladislavs Pliatery. He was appointed adjutant of the 25th Regiment, which was operating near Kaunas and was composed entirely of Lithuanians. Later, in his memoirs, he wrote: "The General Staff was very pleased with us Lithuanians". After the defeat at the Battle of Šiauliai in the summer of 1831, he retreated to Prussia, was interned in Girdava and Žuvininkai, and then went to France. In 1837, he graduated with honours from the École des Mines in Paris, thus holding diplomas from two renowned schools: the University of Vilnius, where he was a naturalist and mathematician with a broad profile, and the University of Paris, where he was a mining engineer.
