Petro Prokopovych

Life & Legacy

Petro Prokopovych (1775–1850, Ukrainian: Петро Прокопович) was a Ukrainian beekeeper who made revolutionary contributions to the practice. They include the founding of commercial beekeeping and the invention of the first movable frame hive. He introduced novelties in traditional beekeeping that allowed great progress in the practice. Among his most important inventions was a hive frame in a separate honey chamber of his beehive. He also invented a crude queen excluder between brood and honey chambers. Petro Prokopovych was also the first to ever model a 'bee beard' after delineating and calculating 'bee swarm behaviour", inspiring students for generations.