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A
L
E
G
AN
K
I
N
R
E
PISK -1967
1886
GUARDIAN OF
NATURE AND NATION
In the laboratory, 1922. Archives of the Republic of Slovenia.
A patriotic Carinthian, Angela Piskernik
was born on 27 August 1886 in in the village
of Lobnig near Eisenkappel into a simple Slo-
venian family in which nothing could be taken
for granted, except the notion that education
made it possible to earn your place in the sun.
After completing a course at the teacher train-
ing institute in Klagenfurt, she graduated from
secondary school in Graz and went on to study
in Vienna, where in 1914 she became the first
Slovenian woman to earn a doctorate in bio-
logical sciences. After taking additional courses
in Lunz am See, Trieste, and Vienna, in 1916 she
accepted a position at the Provincial Museum in
Ljubljana, where she was promoted to museum
assistant. She subsequently taught at several
schools in Ljubljana and Novo mesto. After the
war she became the director of the Natural His-
tory Museum in Ljubljana and a nature protec-
tion adviser at the Institute for the Protection
of Cultural Heritage. She died on 23 December
1967 in Ljubljana.
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She is the second Slovenian
woman to earn a doctorate in
the sciences. A botanist, inter-
nationally recognised conser-
vationist, museologist, lecturer,
and advocate of women’s rights
and the Slovenian national iden-
tity, she was the driving force
behind the creation of Triglav
National Park and the protection
of endangered plant and ani-
mal species in Slovenia. In 1967
she received the Van Tienhoven
Award from the European na-
ture conservancy Stiftung F.V.S.
in recognition of her efforts to
establish Triglav National Park
and her pioneering work in na-
ture conservation. The Sloveni-
an Mountaineering Association
named its nature conservation
award after her.