Zbigniew Kabata
Encyclopedia
Zbigniew 'Bobo' Kabata, CM
(born 17 March 1924) is a highly respected parasitologist, veteran of the Polish
Armia Krajowa
during World War II
, poet
, fisherman
, translator and scientific administrator.
on 17 March 1924. He entered the Marshal Józef Piłsudski Military Academy in Lwów as a cadet in 1937.
by Nazi
forces in 1939, Kabata joined the Armia Krajowa
and fought against the occupying forces. His unit became famous after assaults on two Gestapo
jails, which resulted in the liberation of about 200 prisoners. Kabata was cited several times for bravery. During his time in the resistance, Kabata wrote several patriotic poems honouring the Polish armed forces. His most famous work, The Underground Army, became the unofficial anthem of the Polish combatant community and is inscribed on numerous Polish war memorials.
Following the defeat of Nazi forces in Poland, Kabata made a daring escape across Soviet lines to join up with the Polish 2nd Army Corps
in Italy
and commanded a rifle platoon in the 3rd Company, 1st Carpathian Rifles (the famous "Tobruk Rats"
).
when Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies and found work as a deck-hand on North Sea
trawlers. Kabata became fascinated with marine life and registered for a zoology
degree. After graduation, he began work at the Fisheries Laboratory in Aberdeen
as a specialist in fish parasitology
, while at the same time following postgraduate courses that gained him a Ph.D. (1959) and D.Sc. (1966) from the University of Aberdeen
. It was in this time that Kabata developed the notion that separate populations of fish can be identified by study of the prevalence
of various parasites and diseases. The identification of populations is an integral part of fisheries science
.
In September 1953, Kabata, then still an undergraduate student, married an Irish physician, Mary Ann Montgomery. The couple had a daughter, Marta, in 1954 and a son, Andrzej, in 1956.
During the 1960s, Dr Kabata translated a number of Russian
texts on fish biology
and parasitology
. It was during this time that he began work on his main work, The Parasitic Copepoda of British Fishes, published in 1979 by the Ray Society, ISBN 0-903874-05-9. A seminal work in taxonomy, this book features over 2,000 original hand-drawn illustrations of the complex morphology
of copepod
parasites.
In 1967, Kabata moved to the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia
, where he became head of the Marine Fisheries Section.
, including most notably, the imaginatively named copepod, Bobkabata kabatabobus. He served for 15 years on the editorial board of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
.
Kabata holds the rank of lieutenant colonel
in the Polish army, and has been awarded one of Poland's highest decorations, the Grand Commander Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. For exceptional heroism during the war, he was awarded a Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari
, twice the Cross of Valour, War Medal
(three bars), Underground Army Cross
, Partisan Cross and Gold Medal for Contributions to the Defensiveness of the Country.
For his contribution to world science, he has received the A. Wardle Medal from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, K. Janicki Medal from the Polish Parasitological Society and K. Demel Medal from the Sea Fisheries Institute in Gdynia
, Poland. Other honours include honorary membership in four scientific societies, an honorary D.Sc from the Agricultural University of Szczecin, Poland (1993), an honorary D.Litt from Malaspina University College, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada (2002) and an Eminent Parasitologist Award from the American Society of Parasitologists (2004). He was also made an honorary citizen by the Polish city of Sandomierz in the year 2000. The Law Society of Canada, Immigration Branch, granted him a newly established Immigrant Achievement Award in April 2002. In 2007, he became a Member of the Order of Canada
.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born 17 March 1924) is a highly respected parasitologist, veteran of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
, translator and scientific administrator.
Early life
Kabata was born into a military family in Jeremicze, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
on 17 March 1924. He entered the Marshal Józef Piłsudski Military Academy in Lwów as a cadet in 1937.
World War II
After the invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
by Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
forces in 1939, Kabata joined the Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
and fought against the occupying forces. His unit became famous after assaults on two Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
jails, which resulted in the liberation of about 200 prisoners. Kabata was cited several times for bravery. During his time in the resistance, Kabata wrote several patriotic poems honouring the Polish armed forces. His most famous work, The Underground Army, became the unofficial anthem of the Polish combatant community and is inscribed on numerous Polish war memorials.
Following the defeat of Nazi forces in Poland, Kabata made a daring escape across Soviet lines to join up with the Polish 2nd Army Corps
Polish contribution to World War II
The European theater of World War II opened with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated after over a month of fighting. After Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile , armed forces, and an intelligence service were established outside of Poland....
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and commanded a rifle platoon in the 3rd Company, 1st Carpathian Rifles (the famous "Tobruk Rats"
Leslie Morshead
Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO, ED was an Australian soldier, teacher, businessman, and farmer, with a distinguished military career that spanned both world wars...
).
After the war
After demobilisation, he was transferred to Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
when Italy signed a peace treaty with the Allies and found work as a deck-hand on North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
trawlers. Kabata became fascinated with marine life and registered for a zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
degree. After graduation, he began work at the Fisheries Laboratory in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
as a specialist in fish parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
, while at the same time following postgraduate courses that gained him a Ph.D. (1959) and D.Sc. (1966) from the University of Aberdeen
University of Aberdeen
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university founded in 1495, in Aberdeen, Scotland, is a British university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom and wider English-speaking world...
. It was in this time that Kabata developed the notion that separate populations of fish can be identified by study of the prevalence
Prevalence
In epidemiology, the prevalence of a health-related state in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the risk factor in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population...
of various parasites and diseases. The identification of populations is an integral part of fisheries science
Fisheries science
Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of oceanography, marine biology, marine conservation, ecology, population dynamics, economics and management to attempt to provide an integrated...
.
In September 1953, Kabata, then still an undergraduate student, married an Irish physician, Mary Ann Montgomery. The couple had a daughter, Marta, in 1954 and a son, Andrzej, in 1956.
During the 1960s, Dr Kabata translated a number of Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
texts on fish biology
Ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish. This includes skeletal fish , cartilaginous fish , and jawless fish...
and parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
. It was during this time that he began work on his main work, The Parasitic Copepoda of British Fishes, published in 1979 by the Ray Society, ISBN 0-903874-05-9. A seminal work in taxonomy, this book features over 2,000 original hand-drawn illustrations of the complex morphology
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
of copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
parasites.
In 1967, Kabata moved to the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, where he became head of the Marine Fisheries Section.
Awards and recognition
His outstanding contribution to the field of parasitology has been rewarded with patronymy of 22 taxaTaxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
, including most notably, the imaginatively named copepod, Bobkabata kabatabobus. He served for 15 years on the editorial board of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 28 members from 20 countries, mainly practicing zoological taxonomists...
.
Kabata holds the rank of lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
in the Polish army, and has been awarded one of Poland's highest decorations, the Grand Commander Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. For exceptional heroism during the war, he was awarded a Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari
Virtuti Militari
The Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war...
, twice the Cross of Valour, War Medal
War Medal
A war medal is a military decoration awarded in time of war, as opposed to a service medal. It may refer to, for example:*War Medal *Campaign medal*Global War on Terrorism Service Medal*British War Medal - British Empire medal for service in World War I....
(three bars), Underground Army Cross
Armia Krajowa Cross
Armia Krajowa Cross is a Polish military decoration that was introduced by General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski on 1 August 1966 to commemorate the efforts of the soldiers of the Polish Secret State between 1939 and 1945...
, Partisan Cross and Gold Medal for Contributions to the Defensiveness of the Country.
For his contribution to world science, he has received the A. Wardle Medal from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, K. Janicki Medal from the Polish Parasitological Society and K. Demel Medal from the Sea Fisheries Institute in Gdynia
Gdynia
Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk and suburban communities, which together...
, Poland. Other honours include honorary membership in four scientific societies, an honorary D.Sc from the Agricultural University of Szczecin, Poland (1993), an honorary D.Litt from Malaspina University College, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada (2002) and an Eminent Parasitologist Award from the American Society of Parasitologists (2004). He was also made an honorary citizen by the Polish city of Sandomierz in the year 2000. The Law Society of Canada, Immigration Branch, granted him a newly established Immigrant Achievement Award in April 2002. In 2007, he became a Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
.