Emil Racovita was born in Iasi (Romania) on November 15, 1868, and lived in Soranesti on the family estate. (Scott Romania 2016)

Initially he attended Law School in Paris, but graduated from the Faculty of Science in Sorbonne wit a degree in zoology. In 1896 he obtained a doctor degree gaining him recognition among European scientists.

He was selected to participate as a biologist on board the "Belgica" on the Belgium Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899), and became the first Romanian in Antarctica. He returned from the expedition with a collection of 1,600 botanical and zoological specimens. (Scott Romania 1235, 3350 and 3395)

On November 1st, 1900, Emil Racovita was appointed assistant-director of the oceanographic laboratory "Arago". In 1901 he became co-manager of the scientific journal "Archieves de Zoologie experimentale et generale".

Following the discovery of a new species of cave crustaceans in the Cueva del Drach and Hams on the island of Majorca, which he had visited in August 1904, Racovita gave up his oceanographic research and fully devoted himself to the biological study of the caves and cave life. (Scott Romania 1236)

In 1907 Racovita published "Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques" considered to be the birth of biospeleology (cave biology) as an independent science. At the same time he initiated an extensive international research program called "Biospeologica" primarily intending to collect and document cave fauna. In 1920, when Racovita, volunteered to get involved in the organization of the Romanian University of Cluj, he returned to Romaniaand founded the world's first Speleological Institute, conceived as a universal model for the synthetic basic research of the speleology. (Cancellations)

The results of his biospeleological program are altogether exceptional: 1,200 caves explored in Europe and Africa, a collection including 50,000 cave animals, 66 published papers on cave fauna totaling almost 6,000 pages. (Scott Romania 3875 - 3880)
 

The two decades spent by Racovita in Cluj, prior to the beginning of World War II were characterized by an extraordinary diversification. He was a Senator, Director of the University of Cluj, President of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Speleological Institute, and member of various scientific associations. His contributions to the study of isopod crustaceans and advocacy campaigns for the protection of the environment are internationally known. The climax of his scientific career was the elaboration of an original theory on evolution.

On November 17th 1947, he passed away, but his work lives forever, testimony to a strong spirit, which shall not be forgotten.

The Speleological Institute was named after him in 1958. The Emil Racovita Speleological Institute continued to pursue his goals to understand the complex scientific investigation of caves, including Biospeleology, Physical Speleology and Speleopaleontology.

The Institute co-operates with all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved
in the exploration, investigation and inventory of the Romanian Karst, thus achieving national co-ordination of these specific activities. About 12,000 caves are known in Romania.