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ISSN 0869-4362
Русский орнитологический журнал 2017, Том 26, Экспресс-выпуск 1495: 3709-3715
Professor Dimitar Nankinov celebrates his 75th anniversary in 2017
B.Nikolov, P.Shurulinkov
Boris Nikolov. Bulgarian Ornithological Centre, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., Bulgaria. E-mail: lanius.bg@gmail.com Peter Shurulinkov. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., Bulgaria
Поступила в редакцию 4 September 2017
Prof. Dr. Dimitar Nankinov DSc Biol., one of the leading figures of modern ornithology in Bulgaria, celebrates his 75th anniversary in 2017! As the author or co-author of more than 1000 (!) scientific and popular scientific publications he has a tremendous contribution to addressing many ornithological problems, as well as to the promotion of scientific knowledge about birds and their explorers.
Dimitar Nankinov with Vitaly Bianki (left) and Janis Viksne (on right). Biological Institute of St.-Petersburg University. Stary Peterhof. 2008.
Dimitar Nankinov was born on September 5, 1942 in the village of Trivoditsi, Pazardzhik District (now Plovdiv Region); he is the youngest of the family's nine children. He attended the primary schools in his home village and in the neighbouring village of Hadzhievo. During his high-school years in the town of Gara Krichim (present-day Stamboliyski) he practiced actively a variety of sports (soccer, alpinism, orienteering, volleyball) and he became one of the founders of a local tourist association.
Рус. орнитол. журн. 2017. Том 26. Экспресс-выпуск № 1495
3709
He completed his military service in the Bulgarian Second Army in Plovdiv; there he prepared for the university entry exams - both for the Higher Medical Institute (Plovdiv), as well as for the Higher Institute of Mathematics and Science (HIMS, now Plovdiv University). Following his passion for nature he gave up medicine and enrolled as a student in biology in 1962. During the first three years of his studies, he actively explored the Rhodope Mountains and the Upper Thracian Valley. His hunting license allowed him to enrich the University's zoological collection, mostly with birds, but with other vertebrates too. Those were years of hardship, and a student's scholarship could hardly cover Nankinov's living expenses; therefore he had to take upon a night-time job as a loader of coal and cement at the railways. During his 3rd year in the university, Nankinov attended his first scientific conference. After passing the necessary exams in 1965, he continued his higher education at the University of Leningrad (now Sankt-Petersburg in present-day Russia), where he graduated with excellence two years later. Upon his return to Bulgaria he was commissioned as an assistant at the HIMS - Plovdiv; however, he was never appointed at the position officially... Once again he had to earn his living as a nighttime street cleaner for nearly a year; at the same time he wrote materials for the morning broadcasts of Radio Plovdiv.
In 1968 Dimitar Nankinov was accepted as a student in the PhD programme at the Leningrad State University, which he completed in the autumn of 1971. During his stay in the former Soviet Union he explored the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea); he also participated in the Baltic Commission for the Study of Bird Migration. Under the guidance of his thesis supervisor, Prof. A.S.Malchevsky, he started attending scientific conferences, and he conducted the ornithology field classes for the students of the university. He was involved in the establishing of Gumba-ritsy Ornithological Station on the eastern shore of Lagoda Lake, which was managed by the Leningrad University. He also participated in an anti-plague expedition in Karakum Desert (Turkmenistan). He was listed among the participants of the XVII Soviet Antarctic Expedition but his participation was cancelled shortly before departure for political reasons. Dimitar Nankinov defended his PhD thesis on the ecology of birds along the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland with success and acquired a PhD degree.
Back in Bulgaria, in January 1972 he was appointed as research fellow at the Zoological Institute and Museum (later the Institute of Zoology) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). In 1975 he became the Head of the Bulgarian Ornithological Centre - one of the oldest units within BAS (it was founded officially as a part of the Royal Institutes of Nature and Science in 1932, although the first bird-ringing activities were performed four years earlier). Years of intensive research, coordination and
popularization activities followed. For a decade Nankinov studied the avifauna of Sofia and its surroundings, and as a result the remarkable monograph "The Birds of Sofia" was published in 1982. He traveled a lot throughout Bulgaria, collecting data and authoring many publications on a diversity of species of birds and their habitats in different regions of Bulgaria; he wrote eagerly and one can hardly find a species from the Bulgarian avifauna that is not covered in some of his publications.
EURING General Meeting in Malta in 1992.
Prof. Nankinov is the author of more than 530 scientific publications in nine languages in 25 countries. He is the author or co-author of 20 scientific books and monographs; among them are: "Fauna of Bulgaria -Birds", "Red Data Book of Bulgaria", "Red Data Book of the Black Sea", "Endangered Animals in Bulgaria", "Bird Migration in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia", "Alien Bird Species in Europe", "Studies on the Fauna of Bulgaria", "Old Bulgarian Bird Names", "Systematic List, Status and Names of Birds in Bulgaria", "Catalogue of Bulgarian Ornithofauna", etc. The historical studies on early researchers of Bulgarian and Balkan avifauna, as well as the historical studies on the origin of the Bulgarian nation are of special interest for him as a scientist.
Dimitar Nankinov has worked on 54 national and international research projects, being the leader of 26 of them. The projects include: the Natura 2000 Network; the National Management Plan for Biodiversity Protection; bird migration; rare, protected and endangered animal species; alien bird species in Europe; urban ecology; preservation of the genetic fund of animals; Sun-Earth interactions; Old Bulgarian bird names; etc. He was the first Bulgarian scholar to study bird mortality caused by electric power lines, road traffic and aircraft collisions.
As Head of the Bulgarian Ornithological Centre at the Institute of Zoology, Dimitar Nankinov launched the first specialized ornithological magazine in Bulgaria - "Ornithological Information Bulletin". 24 issues were published in the period 1977-1988, with publications by more than 80 authors from Bulgaria and abroad. In 1976 the national conference of Bulgarian ornithologists was launched; its 11th edition - the last for the moment, - was held in 1994. Nankinov organized intensive bird ringing activities on a national scale with three bigger and a couple of smaller ringing stations; he also set up a network of several hundred volunteer collaborators throughout the country. More than 35,000 birds were ringed annually in the mid-1980s.
The 10th National Conference of the Bulgarian Ornithologists held in Sofia in 1992.
Prof. Nankinov took part in numerous congresses, conferences, workshops and symposia - a total of more than 120, 83 of which international -a compelling evidence for his active work over the years. Also, he is the author of more than 60 reviews of dissertations, books, articles and projects. He lectured at Sofia and Shumen Universities, at the University of Forestry in Sofia, as well as in the former Teacher Qualification Institutes in Sofia and Varna.
He has been the thesis supervisor for 40 Master-degree students from six universities, for three PhD students and one postgraduate student from Italy. He is a member of several national and international committees, expert groups, editorial boards, and science organizations.
In 1994 Dimitar Nankinov successfully defended his dissertation "Migration and overwintering of the birds on the Balkan Peninsula", obtaining the scientific degree Doctor of Biological Sciences at the Saint-Petersburg
University. Two years later he received professorial rank in Bulgaria. In 2006 he obtained the title "Academician - foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences" for his contribution to the development of ornithology and for his substantial merit in study of bird migration in Eurasia. He has also been awarded an Honorary Diploma in Spain and a medal in Italy for his scientific achievement.
Dimitar Nankinov with George Handrinos in the Evros delta. International conference on Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris conservation in Alexandroupolis, Greece. 1998.
Dimitar Nankinov with Boris Nikolov and Svetla Dalakchieva at the 4th Conference of the European Ornithologists Union and the EURING General Meeting in Chemnitz. The photo is taken during the excursion on the Elba River in Dresden. 2003.
Prof. Nankinov's activities to promote ornithology to the wider public are exceptionally eager and multilayered. He has published hundreds of popular articles for the press in Bulgaria and abroad (in more than seven countries). He has worked on an Italian-Bulgarian feature film, as well as on a number of Bulgarian documentary films; as a consultant he has worked on many films for the Bulgarian National Television; his public involvement includes also numerous interviews for the TV, radio and the newspapers. In 1988 he established the School of Ornithology and Nature Conservation within the Institute of Zoology; the School's aim is to attract young people with interests in biology and zoology (ornithology), to promote scientific knowledge and to raise the awareness about nature conservation, and Prof. Nankinov dedicated 80 hours per year to lectures there. The course is open to all attendees - mostly high-school and university students - without any fee. Its existence contributed a lot (as it still does) to channeling the professional interest of hundreds of teenagers who were inspired by the School to continue their education in biology, and subsequently started working in research institutes, universities, and ministries, in nature and national parks, in non-governmental organizations in Bulgaria and abroad; to many, it also provided an opportunity for intellectual survival in the years of hardship during the economic and political transition from Bulgaria's recent past.
Dimitar Nankinov with Alexander Bardin. Saint-Petersburg, 4 May 2015.
Many Bulgarian ornithologists have learned from Prof. Nankinov's knowledge and experience, and this is one of his most valuable contribu-
tions to the development of ornithology in Bulgaria. The School of Ornithology and Nature Conservation has proven itself as a steady, reliable source of prominent conservationists. Prof. Nankinov has always emphasized the need for international efforts in bird conservation and he has always stood by the principles of nature conservation.
Natasha and Dimitar. Saint-Petersburg, 4 May 2015.
This is but a short summary of Prof. Nankinov's life and work with its vicissitudes and challenges. As his students we know him as a man dedicated to science, a propagator of scientific knowledge and of nature conservation ideals to the public, a champion of the Bulgarian spirit and culture, a fierce opponent to double standards, a position that has often cost him many efforts in asserting his high professional and moral values. We would like to congratulate Professor Nankinov for his 75th anniversary, wishing him good health and physical and creative longevity. We are confident that there are many more publications on birds and their explorers to come in the future, and we are sure that they will contribute to the progress of science and to making even more people aware of our natural treasure!
The authors express their sincere thanks to Alexander Marinov for polishing the English of the article.
