Babeș-Bolyai University, the "Emil G. Racoviță" Institute for the Study of Life in Extreme Conditions and the Cluj University Press Publishing House are organizing on Wednesday, October 7, the launch of the volume "Belgica Expedition 1897-1899. The first expedition to winter in Antarctic waters", in the presence of the author, emeritus professor Patrick De Deckker, geologist and micropalaeontologist, member of the Australian Academy of Sciences. At the event, scheduled at 11 a.m. in the Club Room of the Academic College, will participate the rector of UBB, Daniel David, the director of the "Emil G. Racoviță" Institute, Ioana Meleg, and Alina Berciu, from the Cluj University Press Publishing House. At 6 p.m., De Deckker will give a presentation in the Zoology Amphitheater of the Faculty of Biology and Geology, followed by dialogue with the audience.

The Belgica expedition departed from Belgium in August 1897 and spent approximately 13 months trapped in Antarctic ice, with the crew experiencing the first known wintering of an expedition in this region. On board was also Romanian scientist Emil Racoviță, who made observations on Antarctic fauna and environment. The expedition's research covered oceanography, meteorology, geology, glaciology and biology, with results later published in 92 scientific works.

To document the book, De Deckker consulted archives in Belgium, Romania, Poland, the United States, Norway and Great Britain and visited Cluj-Napoca twice for documents related to Racoviță. The volume, initially published in Australia in November 2025, has approximately 300 pages and almost 190 illustrations.

Racoviță, considered the founder of biospeleology, directed the Institute of Speleology in Cluj-Napoca between 1920 and 1947 and was rector of the University of Cluj and president of the Romanian Academy.