Leonard Weber | |
Birth Date: | 22 October 1889 |
Birth Place: | Kozubów, Austria-Hungary (now Poland) |
Death Place: | Wrocław, Poland |
Field: | Beekeeping |
Workplaces: | Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Lviv, University and Polytechnic Institute in Wrocław |
Known For: | Behaviour and perception of bees |
Leonard Weber (22 October 1889 — 16 September 1975) was an outstanding Polish beekeeper with diverse interests: he studied architecture in Italy, was fond of astronomy,[1] was a polyglot, passionate about artificial languages (Esperanto, Ido).[2]
In 1921–1939 he was the editor-in-chief of the monthly "Bartnik Postępowy" published in Lviv. During these years, he has published many books on the topic of beekeeping, including: "American premium hives" (1919), "Beekeeping" (1920), "Year-round farming in the apiary" and "Diseases and pests of bees" (1923), "How to build the cheapest and simplest hive and how to manage it" (1925), "Bee and Hive" (1930), "Apiary" (1934).[3] In 1937, he also published a textbook on the study of the Ido language.[4] In 1944, after the Nazis left Lviv, he published the book "Teaching for Beekeepers".
After the war, together with almost the entire Polish scientific and teaching staff of the Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Lviv, he moved to Wroclaw. As an associate professor, together with his assistant Rudolf Niemczuk, he created the Department of Beekeeping and Diseases at the newly established Veterinary Faculty of the University and Polytechnic Institute. Weber became its manager until 1951, when it was transformed into an agricultural school. There he headed a bee-growing plant, which he occupied until his retirement in 1961.