The "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology, the first one in the world dedicated to the research of caves, was founded in 1920 by the enterprising and well-known scientist Emil Racovita (1868-1947) who was a biologist, a polar explorer and a pioneer of the Biospeleology. In the next decades, to the extensive biospeleological research schedule initially conceived by Emil Racovita in order to get an accurate reconstitution of the subterranean realm, natural history, physical speleology and paleontology studies have been added. Nowadays, organized under the patronage of the Romanian Academy, the "Emil Racovita" Institute of Speleology comprises five departments involved in specific research trends and programmes: Biospeleology and Karst Edaphobiology; Geospeleology and Paleontology; Karstonomy, Karst Inventory and Protection; Hydrogeochemistry.