“And follow the path of Lithuania”. 130th anniversary of prof. Steponas Kolupaila

“And Follow the Path of Lithuania”. 130^th Anniversary of Prof. Steponas Kolupaila

14 September 2022 marks the 130^th anniversary of the birth of the eminent scientist, hydrologist, hydropower development enthusiast, former head of the Department of Hydrology and Hydraulics at the University of Lithuania (Vytautas Magnus University since 1930), academician, professor, Dr. Steponas Kolupaila (1892-1964). Prof. Kolupaila wrote: “A man is happy only when has a clear purpose in life. My goal is as clear as a crystal: to study God’s fascinating creation, nature, and to try to bend it in a meaningful way for the benefit of man, first of all for the benefit of the people of my country. As I approach the sunset of my happy and eventful life, I feel this is just the beginning of the work I have set out to do. The younger generation is coming to continue it. Therefore, I encourage our dear young people to dedicate themselves to noble ideals and follow the path of Lithuania.”

On the occasion of the anniversary, Dr. Audronė Veilentienė, Head of KTU Museum, has prepared a 4-part virtual exhibition “And to Follow the Path of Lithuania”. 130^th Anniversary of Prof. Steponas Kolupaila”. The first part of the exhibition features photographs of Prof. S. Kolupaila’s pedagogical and research activities, while the other parts feature photographs from his creative heritage, stored at KTU Museum: photographs of Prof. S. Kolupaila’s trip to the USA in 1936, his canoeing trip in Dzūkija Region in 1938 and after regaining Vilnius in 1939.

Teacher and scientist

Steponas Kolupaila was born on 14 September 1892 in Daugavpils County, Latvia, in Tuminiškiai Manor, which was then rented by S. Kolupaila’s father Jonas Kolupaila. In 1911, Kolupaila graduated from Jelgava Gymnasium with a gold medal, and in 1915, he received a diploma in geodesy engineering from the Moscow Measurement Institute. In 1915-1918, while deepening his knowledge in the engineering department of Moscow Academy of Agriculture, encouraged by the well-known Russian hydrologist V. Glushkov, he became interested in hydrometry, a part of hydrology that examines methods of measuring and observing water objects and worked in this science field throughout his life. At the beginning of 1921, S. Kolupaila arrived at Dotnuva School of Agriculture and Forestry to organise the cultural technology department. In 1922, he was invited to work as a Privatdozent at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of the University of Lithuania. In 1940, he was promoted to the position of ordinary professor, and in 1941, he was approved as a full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in the Department of Natural Science. In 1923, S. Kolupaila founded and for a long time was the head of the Hydrometric Party of the Board of Roads and Waterways under the Ministry of Transport, later renamed the Hydrometric Bureau, and laid the foundations for the research of Lithuanian waters. Such research required a hydraulics laboratory, which was not available at the Department of Hydraulic Engineering. The lack of funds prevented its establishment. The hydraulics laboratory was partly replaced by extensive field research and research at the hydrometric mill calibration station established in 1926 in the pond of the Botanical Garden. The topics of his papers were related to issues of Lithuanian hydrology, hydrography, meteorology and local knowledge, and he devoted a lot of his time to the exploration of Nemunas, some of which he described in his popular book “Nemunas”. Prof. S. Kolupaila was a scientist, as well as the founder and chairman of the Lithuanian Amateur Photographer Union (1933). His photographs of Lithuanian landscapes were awarded a gold medal at the 1937 Global Exhibition in Paris. This year marks the 84th anniversary of Prof. S. Kolupaila’s pioneering polygraphic experiment – the publication of his first colour photograph in the magazine “Židinys” in 1938. In July 1944, Prof. S. Kolupaila and his family left Lithuania and reached Kempten (Bavaria) in August 1944; later they moved to the USA. In 1948, he was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame. His last lecture to the students was on 28 May 1963. He died on 9 April 1964 and was buried in the Lithuanian St. Casimir Cemetery in Chicago.

Prof. Steponas Kolupaila is a scientist, hydrologist, and enthusiast of hydropower development, Head of the Department of Hydrology and Hydraulics at the University of Lithuania (Vytautas Magnus University since 1930), 1936 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Biography of Prof. S. Kolupaila, 1936 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Academic staff of the Technical Faculty, 1932. (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Prof. S. Kolupaila with colleagues, 1936 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

In 1923, S. Kolupaila founded and for a long time was the head of the Hydrometric Party of the Board of Roads and Waterways under the Ministry of Transport, later renamed the Hydrometric Bureau (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Maps of the Hydrometry Party, 1928 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Prof. S. Kolupaila with friends in Nemunas, 1935 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

In 1926, S. Kolupaila established a hydrometric mill calibration station in the pond of the Botanical Garden which is still operating now (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Prof. S. Kolupaila with students at the Hydrometry Laboratory in the Botanical Garden, 1933 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Thesis defence of the graduates of the Construction Department of the Technical Faculty, 1931 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Publications by Prof. S. Kolupaila 1925–1940 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Trip to the USA in 1936

Prof. Kolupaila visited Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, and in 1936, he spent two months in the USA and Canada. He told his impressions of the trip in a discussion organised by the editorial board of “Naujoji Romuva”. Initially, the professor travelled through the eastern states, passing through Boston, Niagara, Pittsburgh, Knoxville and Washington. He visited factories, hydroelectric power plants, and institutions of higher education. He started the second trip in New York, went to Canada, then turned west through Niagara to Chicago, then south through San Francisco to Los Angeles, and then east again. The journey took 20 days, during which S. Kolupaila took around 1500 photographs. After returning to Kaunas from the USA, the professor felt “like he had fallen into a dungeon lit by sapwood”, and declared “I will never stop fighting for the light for Lithuania”. Prof. S. Kolupaila was impressed by the various natural and technical wonders of America, he visited as many as 22 dams. He said that technical education in the USA is not higher than in Lithuania, but the working conditions are incomparably better – excellent laboratories, visual aids, a lot of literature. (America – a Country of Natural and Technical Miracles. Naujoji Romuva, 1936, No. 44, p. 861–866).

Prof. S. Kolupaila on his trip to the USA, 1936 (original photograph is at KTU Museum)

A moment of a trip to the USA, 1936 (Prof. S. Kolupaila, original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Images of nature. Moments of a trip to the USA, 1936 (Prof. S. Kolupaila, original photograph is at KTU Museum)

Canoe trip in Dzūkija region in 1938

Prof. S. Kolupaila devoted a lot of his time to public organisations. He was a member of Vytis Corporation of student scouts, a patron of the “Grandis” Corporation of students-technicians of the organisation “Ateitis”, and a patron of the student organisation “Plienas”. He was a tourism enthusiast and led canoe trips on Lithuanian rivers and lakes. The first mass canoe trip was organised in 1934 from Alytus to Kaunas. The exhibition features photographs taken by Prof. S. Kolupaila from a canoe trip in Dzūkija in the summer of 1938 which was attended by 6 fellow travellers: Prof. S. Kolupaila, Prof. Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Assoc. Prof. Antanas Gravrogkas, G. Žmuidzinavičiūtė, A. Gučas, and Can. A. Sabaliauskas. The journey had to start from Mergalaukis (near Simnas) because that is the farthest point to which the railwaymen agreed to transport the canoes. The travellers planned to visit the large Dzūkija lakes Dusia, Metelis and Obelija, and if they are successful, the mysterious Žuvintas. The 3 canoes were taken by carriage to the Meteliai Manor, where travellers had lunch and started their journey along the Metelytė Creek, which flows by the mill, to Meteliai Lake. From Meteliai Lake, a kind-hearted farmer transported the travellers’ “fleet” to the village of Mockonys, near Obelija Lake and allowed them to spend the night in his granary. After crossing Obelija Lake, the travellers visited the Obelytė hill fort, returned to Meteliai town by wagon, and transported their canoes by land to Dusia Lake. After crossing and enjoying the lake, they spent the night in a farmer’s barn. In the morning, they bought fish from fishermen and, after eating delicious fish soup, continued their journey by canoeing along the Sperna Creek which flows into Dusia Lake. They managed to reach the mysterious Žuvintas Lake, where they unsuccessfully tried to find a home-made vodka production “factory”, and from there they reached Daukšiai church village by Dovinė Creek. They then followed the Dovinė River to the Šešupė River and finished their journey at Tarpučiai Bridge in Marijampolė. While others admired Lithuanian nature during the journey, the artist A. Žmuidzinavičius painted landscapes. (Prof. S. Kolupaila. Through the Mysterious Lakes and Swaying Swards of Dzūkija. 20^th century, 13 08 1938 No. 183, 15 08 1938 No. 184; Prof. S. Kolupaila. At Žuvintas, Full of Birds and Vodka-Makers, 20^th century, 17 08 1938 No. 185.)

Pleasant canoeing in Metelytė River, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

At Obelytė hill fort, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

At Obelija Lake, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Dusia Lake, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Fish from Dusia Lake, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Simnas, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

At Simnas town, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

A. Gravrogkas and A. Žmuidzinavičius canoeing through Bambena “jungle”, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Bambena Creek, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

At mysterious Žuvintas, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Dovinė River, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

At Daukšiai, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Participants of a canoe trip at Gustaičiai Mill on Dovinė River, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Šešupė River, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Bridge over Šešupė River in Marijampolė, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

Tarpučiai Bridge in Marijampolė, 1938 (photograph by Prof. S. Kolupaila, KTU Museum)

The first train to Vilnius in 1939

The fourth part of the virtual exhibition consists of moments from the 1939 trip to Vilnius. On 10 October 1939, Lithuania received the region of Vilnius from the Soviet Union in exchange for the deployment of Soviet army garrisons on Lithuanian territory. Moments of the first train journey to Vilnius on 28 October 1939 were recorded by Prof. S. Kolupaila.