The activity of Jean Emmanuel Gilibert in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania between 1775 and 1783

Abstract

This article is devoted to the great French scientist and his contribution to the development of the natural sciences in Eastern Europe. J. Gilibert became famous as the founder of research and educational centres in Poland during the period of famous reforms introduced by King Stanisław August Poniatowski. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he first worked in Grodno. He became the organiser, as well as director and lecturer at the famous Royal Medical Academy with its extensive network of various institutions, including a botanical garden. The botanical garden was the first enterprise of this kind within the territory of contemporary Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. In Vilna, J. Gilibert founded a Department of Natural History at the Supreme School of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Thanks to his work, Belarusian and Lithuanian academic output, mainly with regard to the country’s flora, became part of European science.