The great explorers are those who feed upon adventure, are endowed with a sharp mind and have a ceaseless desire to discover. Emil Racovita (1868 – 1947) fitted perfectly into these traits.

He was born in a respectable family from Iasi and spent his childhood at Suranesti (Vaslui County, Moldavia). One of his early teachers was the Romanian writer Ion Creanga; later on, he became a student of Grigore Cobalcescu, who initiated him in the universe of natural sciences (Emil Racovita will reward his mentor’s contribution to his personal development in a very special way). Following his father’s wishes, he studied at the Law University in Paris, but he couldn’t help attending the courses of the Anthropology School, too.

After getting the degree in law, he pursued his interest in Biology and attended the Faculty of Sciences from the Sorbonne University in Paris. After his graduation in 1891, he worked in the Arago laboratories of the Marine Biology Station from Banyuls-sur-Mer. During this time, he performed a couple of divings at a depth of 10 m, dressed in classical Siebe-Gorman equipment, in order to study the underwater life forms. He got a PhD on this topic in 1896.

Meanwhile, in 1895, a Belgian explorer, Adrien De Gerlache had got the approval of the Royal Geographical Society from Bruxelles to organize and lead an expedition in Antarctica. He purchased a Norwegian ship called “Patria” and renamed it “Belgica”. The next step was to assemble a team of capable scientists: Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer that would later become the first man to reach the South Pole, a month earlier than the English captain R.F. Scott; doctor Frederick Cook, an American Doctor who would later be the first person to reach the North Pole (although this achievement was challenged by Robert Peary); two Polish scientists, H. Arctowski and A. Dobrowolski. The crew needed an expert in Biology, so H. Arctowski made the proposal to Emil Racovita. The young Romanian scientist was more than delighted, but there was an obstacle: at that time, he was performing his military service and he wouldn’t have been available until the departure was scheduled. But that didn’t prove to be much of a problem – several interventions at the highest level, and Racovita got a military leave on indefinite term.

The Romanian had no problem integrating into Belgica’s crew, as he was valued for both his scientific abilities and humor; besides, they were all young men, as the team’s average age was 26 and the oldest was only 34. Apart from his tasks as an expert in Biology, he was also entrusted with the photographic laboratory, which was provided with devices manufactured in the workshops of Auguste Lumiere, the great-grandfather of cinema. Of the many pictures taken during the expedition, one of the funniest is that in which Emil Racovita has his hair cut by Roald Amundsen.

The expedition set sail from Antwerp, in august 1897. Belgica reached the Graham Land in January 1898. They sailed between the coast and a long string of islands and named this new found strait Belgica (later on, it would take the name of the ship’s captain, Gerlache Strait). They also landed a couple of times and, as every crew member had the right to give whatever name he chose to the newly found territories, Racovita gave the name Cobalcescou to one the islands from the Palmer Archipelago, in the memory of the teacher that guided his first steps on the path of natural sciences. Of course, he relentlessly observed, drew and classified all the animals and plants he encountered.

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