Domeyko – geologist, mineralogist and founder of the University of Santiago, in Chile •Basia Syzdlowski REMEMBER ME. My name is Ignacy Domeyko, born in Niedzwiadka Wielka (Russian Empire) on July 31, 1802. In my youth I was a subject of the Russian empire, however I was brought up in the culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – a multicultural state whose educated and dominant classes spoke Polish. I enrolled at Vilnius University, known as the Imperial University of Vilno. In 1816, I was a student of mathematics and physics, studied under Jedrzej Sniadecki. I became involved with the Philomaths, a secret student organization dedicated to Polish culture and restoration of Poland's independence and was a close friend of Adam Mickiewicz.