History of the Institute

A story that began in a small room

In September 1939, Warsaw’s paleontology nearly vanished. The Department of Geology and Paleontology at the University of Warsaw was destroyed together with its collections, library, and laboratories built over decades. Yet only a few years later, science began to return to the post-war city, and the first lectures took place in Professor Roman Kozłowski’s apartment on Wilcza Street. In a small room, a scientific community emerged that would later transform how the history of life is understood.

On December 18, 1952, the Palaeozoological Laboratory of the Polish Academy of Sciences was founded, one of the first institutes of the newly established Academy. From the beginning it stood apart: instead of focusing solely on fossil description, researchers treated fossils as records of ancient organisms and biological processes. This was the birth of the Warsaw school of paleobiology.

The scientist who changed how fossils are seen

Roman Kozłowski, a world-leading graptolite researcher, laid the foundations of this approach. By introducing chemical preparation techniques, he enabled microscopic fossils to be studied almost like living organisms. Demonstrating the affinity of graptolites with hemichordates, he showed that paleontology could address fundamental questions of evolutionary biology.

Perhaps his greatest achievement, however, was building a scientific community. Many of the young researchers he trained would later become leaders of international paleontology.

From Warsaw to the Gobi desert

In the decades that followed, the Institute expanded rapidly under the leadership of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska and later directors such as Halszka Osmólska, Adam Urbanek, Hubert Szaniawski, Grzegorz Racki and Jerzy Dzik. Researchers set out from Warsaw to Spitsbergen, Antarctica, and most famously the Gobi Desert.

The Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions of the 1960s and 1970s produced discoveries that captured worldwide attention, dinosaurs, Mesozoic mammals, and exceptionally rich collections of other vertebrates. The Warsaw center became one of the key global hubs for studying the evolution of life during the age of dinosaurs.

At the same time, research on fossil invertebrates, microfossils, and palaeoenvironments flourished, from the Holy Cross Mountains to polar regions. The Institute became a place where classical taxonomy merged with evolutionary interpretation, geochemistry, and palaeoecology.

A turning point: the birth of paleobiology

In 1977 the Paleozoological Laboratory was renamed the Paleobiology Laboratory, reflecting a profound conceptual shift. Researchers began asking not only what organisms lived in the past, but why they evolved and how they responded to environmental change.

Models of colonial (clonal) growth of organisms, studies on mass extinctions, and geochemical concepts of ocean transformation emerged, and the Institute increasingly became an interdisciplinary environment linking biology, geology, and chemistry.

In 1990 the unit adopted its current name, the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, emphasizing continuity with its traditions while embracing modern research.

The Institute today - life’s history in the 21st Century

Today the Institute remains one of Europe’s leading centers for research on the fossil record. In laboratories of the Institute, traditional fossil preparation meets micro-CT imaging, advanced geochemistry, and molecular approaches. Scientists investigate vertebrate and invertebrate evolution, early life, skeletal biomineralization, mass extinctions, and long-term climate change in polar regions.

The Institute is now a network of research teams and laboratories where new generations of scientists continue the legacy of the Warsaw school of paleobiology. Alongside established researchers, younger project leaders explore fossil chemosynthetic ecosystems, arthropod evolution, archosaur and dinosaur biomechanics, and biomineralization processes in invertebrates. Discoveries of Triassic vertebrates from Poland, particularly from sites such as Krasiejów and Lisowice, have sparked a renaissance in vertebrate paleontology and strengthened the Institute’s international role in studies of early dinosaur evolution.

New directions continue to expand, including paleobiomechanics, paleoproteomics, microstructural biomineral studies, and long-term environmental reconstructions. Publishing extensively, leading international collaborations, and training young researchers, the Institute remains a place where tradition meets cutting-edge science.

Public outreach is another essential part of its mission. The dinosaur exhibition inspired by the Gobi expeditions evolved into the dynamic Museum of Evolution, presenting key milestones in the history of life. Ongoing efforts aim to establish a Natural History Museum that would allow the Institute’s remarkable collections to be displayed on a larger scale.

From lectures in a private apartment to interdisciplinary laboratories of the twenty-first century, the story of the Institute of Paleobiology PAS is still being written.

Jarosław Stolarski

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