Stefan Kopec

Stefan Kopeć (Jan 22,1888 – † March 11, 1941[1]) was a Polish biologist and pioneer of insect endocrinology, who studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He received his PhD. there in 1912, and worked at Puławy Agricultural Research Station in Poland between 1915 and 1920. In 1929 he was made Director of the Institute.[2] Between 1908 and 1927, Kopec published at least 17 papers, in Polish, English and German, on insect endocrinology in various professional journals.[2]

Biography

Kopeć began his studies of the moulting of insects with Lymantria Dispar [3] from specimens caught in the wild.[4] His subsequent scientific activities helped determine the role of the insect brain in hormone production. He was the earliest researcher to understand the importance of the insect brain, as is demonstrated by his statement in a 1917 paper:

“ For the normal process of metamorphosis the presence of the brain, at least up to a certain moment, is indispensable...[2] ”

Kopec's most significant contribution was his study of neurosecretory cells in the brains of insects which secrete a crucial growth hormone, prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), which regulates the process of metamorphosis (ecdysteroidogenesis).[5][6][7] He observed that nervous tissue could behave like an endocrine gland. This discovery stimulated further scientific research leading to the establishment of the field of science known as neuroendocrinology.[8][9] Kopec's work was cut short due to his arrest by the Gestapo in 1940 together with his daughter Maria and son Stanislaw in an action against the Polish underground university. He was imprisoned at the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw and executed by the Germans in 1941 at Palmiry,[1] near Warsaw, together with his son as a reprisal against an action of the Polish underground army, as a part of the German AB-Aktion in Poland.

The University of Wrocław named its annual International Conference on Arthropods the Stefan Kopeć Memorial Conference in Kopec's honor.[10]

Bibliography

See also

entomology

References

  1. 1 2 M. Manowski, (Bartoszewski [Warsaw 1970] et al) [translate.google.co.uk Palmira] Check |url= value (help). M. Manowski. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  2. 1 2 3 Sláma, Karel, Insect Endocrinology: A Tribute to Stefan Kopeć, from Historical figures in Insect Physiology, University of California, Riverside, retrieved 2011-10-07. This article originally appeared on pages 11-15 of Insects, Chemical, physiological and evironmental aspects, Wydawnictwo Univwersytetu Wrocławskiego, ed. By Danuta Konopińska, University of Wrocław, 1995.
  3. ↑ Albert Rosenfeld books.google.co.uk LIFE 6 Oct 1958 (magazine) [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  4. ↑ Susan E Fahrbach, Karen A Mesce mendeley.com website "Neuroethoendocrinology": integration of field and laboratory studies in insect neuroendocrinology. Hormones and Behavior (2005) Volume: 48, Issue: 4, Pages: 352-359 [Retrieved 2011-12-19]
  5. ↑ Kopeć, S. 1922. Studies on the necessity of the brain for the inception of insect metamorphosis. Biol. Bull. 36: 459-466.
  6. ↑ Karlson Marburg, Peter (1996). "On the hormonal control of insect metamorphosis. A historical review". Int. J. Dev. Biol. 40: 93–96.
  7. ↑ Elisabeth Marchala, Hans Peter Vandersmissena, Liesbeth Badiscoa, Sandrien Van de Veldeb, Heleen Verlindena, Masatoshi Igab, Pieter Van Wielendaelea, Roger Huybrechtsa, Gert Simonet, Guy Smagghe, Jozef Vanden Broeck sciencedirect.com 2011 - Copyright Clearance Center, Inc Control of ecdysteroidogenesis in prothoracic glands of insects: A review (March 2010) Peptides Elsevier doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2009.08.020
  8. ↑ Gerald Litwack books.google.co.uk Insect Hormones Volume 73 of Vitamins and hormones Gulf Professional Publishing, 5 Dec 2005 ISBN 0127098739, 304 pages
  9. ↑ John L. Capinera books.google.co.uk (Google eBook) Encyclopedia of entomology: A - E., Volume 1 (815 pages) Springer, 2006 ISBN 1402062427[Retrieved 2011-12-19]
  10. ↑ Welcome to VII-th International Conference
  11. ↑ ( and : JTOR
  12. ↑ John Wiley & Sons, Inc 1999–2011 [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  13. ↑ GOVERNMENT INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, POLAND biolbull.org [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  14. ↑ springerlink.com/ / Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (2011) Publication:Journal of Genetics Copyright © 1923, Indian Academy of Sciences[Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  15. ↑ onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi:10.1002/jez.1400360406 1999– Journal of Experimental ZoologyVolume 36, Issue 4, pages 468–475, November 1922 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2011) [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  16. ↑ JSTOR Biological Bulletin © 1926 Marine Biological Laboratory [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  17. ↑ scholar.google.com [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  18. ↑ biolbull.org [Retrieved 2011-12-18]
  19. ↑ (springerlink.com website) Springer Berlin / Heidelberg 1930 [Retrieved 2011-12-18]

External links

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