Edward Stenz - geograf, wybitny badacz Afganistanu

• Authors: Janusz Fedirko
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

Edward Stenz (1897-1956) was a renowned Polish scientist and explorer whose life was closely associated with Afghanistan. He went to Afghanistan before World War II and stayed there for nine years (1939-1948) due to the political situation in Europe. He pursued research throughout the country, which was not easy since Afghanistan had virtually no infrastructure, distances were large and the landscape tough to manage. Stenz left for Asia with a solid background in research techniques acquired at Polish universities. In Afghanistan he found himself in a situation with no educated individuals to rely on. He endured an enormous workload including scientific research, organizational activity and teaching activity. Stenz was a professor at the University of Kabul, where he wrote textbooks and lecture notes for his students. He also published his research results in self-published journals. Stenz supervised the construction of meteorological stations and spent a good amount of his time in the field. He made attempts to help his countrymen during the war. As a good student of the theories published by Poland's best known scientist, Nicholas Copernicus, he tried to make Afghans aware of his accomplishments. He also published in two foreign languages in order to give his research broader international exposure. Stenz identified the climate zones in Afghanistan by doing research in the field of evaporation. Stenz divided Afghanistan into hydrographic regions and made meaningful gains in the area of Afghanistan's tectonics. He designed and founded the Central Meteorological Observatory in Kabul. He was the director of the Observatory for more than a year. His papers on Afghanistan's meteorology, hydrography, geophysics and geo-thermodynamics remain relevant today. The research Stenz performed in Afghanistan was not the only research on his life's list of accomplishments. His research accomplishments include those prior to his travel to Afghanistan and those in the few short years following his return to Poland. His key accomplishment in Afghanistan was the creation of a basis for the development of the environmental sciences in a country with radically different cultural traditions, something he often noted himself. The 1939-48 legacy of Edward Stenz appears to be forgotten today, which is why it is important to remind readers of it.

Keywords

PL

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Prace Geograficzne
• Year: 2011
• Issue: 127

Dates

published

2011

online

2011-09-18

Contributors

author

Janusz Fedirko