Prokopovych, Petro [Прокопович, Петро; Prokopovyč], b 10 July 1775 in Mytchenky, near Baturyn, Nizhyn regiment, d 3 April 1850 in Palchyky, Chernihiv gubernia. Apiarist. He completed study at the Kyivan Mohyla Academy and then served in the army (1794–98) before retiring to his estate and concentrating on beekeeping. Prokopovych gained considerable expertise in his field and established apiculture as a branch of agricultural science. He invented the frame hive in 1814, a marked improvement in beekeeping technology, and was the first in the world to obtain clear comb honey without destroying bees. He established the first scientific beekeeping school in Eastern Europe (which trained nearly 600 apiarists in 1828–74) and developed the first nomenclature for modern beekeeping in Eastern Europe. Prokopovych planned to purchase a printing press to publish his lectures in Ukrainian but was prevented from doing so by the tsarist authorities. A number of his essays were published in Russian scientific journals, and a collection of his lectures in Russian was published posthumously (later translated into German, French, and Polish).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]