Ivan Gams – terminologist, encyclopedist, biographer, and more

In the second half of the twentieth century, Slovenian geography was characterized by gradual specialization and orientation of individuals into increasingly narrower areas of scholarly interest. Academy member Ivan Gams was no exception, focusing his research and teaching on karst studies. Throughout his work he preserved an exceptional research breadth, which is reflected in the wide variety of his contributions in all areas of physical geography; in addition, he also excelled as a regional geographer. His contributions in other areas of geography, which were by no means small, tend to pale in comparison. These reflect his constantly restless and critical research spirit, with which he helped shape Slovenia’s social developments in the recent past. Outside physical geography, Gams was primarily involved in studying geographical terms and names.