Chemists' CVs

The International Year of Chemistry

It would be difficult to imagine modern civilisation without chemistry. Cleaning products, medications or fuel would not exist without complex chemical processes used at every stage of industrial production. A lot of daily use products such as kitchen tables, plates, wall and floor coverings, textiles, and even casings of computers and mobile phones are the products of modern chemistry. It lies behind almost every item and product we deal with in everyday life. Even food we eat is in substantial part chemically processed, and its basic ingredients have been produced on the basis of artificial fertilisers containing precisely controlled amounts of elements stimulating the growth of plants. “Artificial fertilisers are so important for our civilisation that if they were withdrawn from use, within one year probably one in three or four people in the world would die of hunger” – emphasizes Prof. Dr. Hab. Robert Hołyst from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

source: Institute of Physical Chemistry (Polish Academy of Sciences) – www.ichf.edu.pl

MARIA SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE (1867–1934)

Born on 7 November 1867 in Warsaw, died on 4 July 1934 in Passy.

An outstanding Polish physicist and chemist who lived and studied in France, the first woman awarded with the pro- fessor degree at the Sorbonne, wife of Piotr Curie. In 1898 she discovered with her husband radium and polonium. She was a co-founder of the science of radioactivity (she introduced the term “radioactivity”), the author of pioneer works on physics and nuclear chemistry.

She was twice the laureate and the first woman who received the Nobel Prize – in 1903 with her husband for research into natural radioactivity phenomenon discovered by Henri Becquerel (in physics) and in 1911 for work on chemical and physical properties of polonium and radium, and for works regarding methods of isolating, purifying and measuring the activity of radioactive elements (in chemistry).

In 1910 her basic work on radioactivity was published, and that year she obtained (with support of the French chemist André-Luis Debierne) metallic radium.

In 1935 the Nobel Prize was awarded also to their daughter – Irene Joliot-Curie and her husband Frédéric Joliot, and therefore the Curie family is the family which received the largest number of Nobel prizes.

In 1914 she established the Radium Institute in Paris, where she worked until her death. On her initiative the Radium Institute in Warsaw was established in 1932.

JAN ZEH (1817–1897)

He was born on 2 July 1817 in Łańcut, died on 25 January 1897 in Borysław. He descended from Hungarian family whose two generations lived in the Małopolska region.

After graduating from secondary school he started practicing pharmacy in Sambor, where for the first time he had contact with crude oil. In 1844 he started pharmacy studies at the University of Vienna and was awarded the MSc degree in pharmacy in 1847.

In 1853 in Lviv, in the drugstore “Pod Złotą Gwiazdą” (“Under Golden Star”) he conducted first experiments on isolating crude oil into separate fractions: petrol, kerosene and mazout residues, which resulted in invention of kerosene distillate lighting lamps constructed by Adam Bratkowski, a whitesmith from Lviv.

From 1853 he produced kerosene, lubricants and paraffin candles in his own shop in Lviv.

IGNACY ŁUKASIEWICZ (1822–1882)

Born in March 1822 in Zaduszniki, died in January 1882 in Chorkówka - pharmacist, inventor of kerosene lamp and pioneer of oil industry in Europe.

After graduation from the fourth grade at grammar school in Rzeszów, due to lack of financial means to continue his studies, he started training in a drugstore in Łańcut. Four years later he passed the exam to obtain the title of the pharmacist’s assistant. In 1850 he started studies at the two-year pharmacy college on the Jagiellonian University. In 1852 he went to Vienna, where he obtained the title of MSc in pharmacy. His MSc thesis was entitled “Baryta et Anilinum”.

In 1852, in a laboratory in the drugstore “Pod Złotą Gwiazdą” (“Under Golden Star”) owned by Piotr Mikolasch in Lviv, he distilled kerosene from oil at the request of the owner.

One year later he constructed the first kerosene lamp which he used to illuminate the shop window of the drugstore, and on 31 July 1853 he introduced such lighting in a public hospital in Lviv. Invention of the kerosene lamp was a significant achievement. It was connected with trials to obtain fuel that would be more efficient and cheaper than types of oil and its mixtures used so far. In 1854 he established in Bóbrka near Krosno the first in Poland and in the world crude oil mine, and two years later – the first refinery in Ulaszowice near Jasło.

Currently in Bóbrka there is the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Memorial Museum of Oil Industry housing exhibits related to the history of oil industry development.

WITOLD BRONIEWSKI (1880–1939)

Born on 15 October 1880 in Psków.

Metal expert, metallurgist, he studied mathematics, electrical engineering, physics and chemistry, a student of, among others, Maria Skłodowska-Curie at the University of Paris (1908–1911). In 1914–1919 he lectured metallography at the University of Paris, from 1919 to 1920 he was the professor at the Lviv Polytechnic, and in the period 1920–1939 he gave lectures as a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology.

He conducted research in the scope of metallography and physical chemistry, as well as plastic working and thermal treatment. The pioneer of Polish studies on creeping of metals.

In 1920 he established the Academy of Technical Sciences (1928–1936 secretary general). From May to September 1926 he was the minister of public works.

Selected works: ”Recherches sur les propriétés électriques des alliages d'aluminium” (1911), ”Zasady metalografii” (Principles of metallography) (1921), ”Travaux pratiques de metallographie” (1930), ”Sur l'ecronissage du fer” (1931).

STANISŁAW PILAT (1881–1941)

Born in 1881 in Lviv – Polish chemist, professor at the Faculty of Oil and Natural Gas Technology at the Lviv Polytechnic (from 1924).

He conducted research into composition of Polish crude oil and technology of its processing, catalytic hydrogenation of gaseous hydrocarbons, polymerisation of alkenes, structure of lubrication oils, use of post-refinery waste. He tried to obtain synthetic petrol. The method for cold fractioning of petroleum mixtures is currently applied in the USA. He also developed the process of production of carbon black from natural gas.

He was arrested by Germans at night from 3 to 4 of July 1941 with the group of 25 professors of the Lviv Polytechnic and the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv, and was executed on the same night on the Wuleckie Hills.

STANISŁAW BRETSZNAJDER (1907–1967)

He was born on 19 July 1909 in Mykolajiv on the Black Sea. This outstanding scientist and teacher was the precursor of mathematical description of experimental studies results and the founder of the original Polish school of chemical technology.In 1931 he became the assistant at the Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology at the Warsaw University of Technology.

In 1936 he gave lectures on cement and binding materials technology, technical electrochemistry and fundamentals of industrial processes – this subject was the beginning of a new discipline – chemical engineering.

In 1949 he took charge of the Technological Design Department at the Warsaw University of Technology. This was a modern, not only in the domestic scope, educational and research unit where Stanisław Bretsznajder developed his original concepts of chemical process design, technological principles, modelling and scale-up rules, kinetics of contact and topochemical reactions. He was the first lecturer in Poland to give lectures on chemical reactors design. He was fascinated with the process of obtaining metallic aluminium from raw clay.

WOJCIECH ALOJZY ŚWIĘTOSŁAWSKI (1881–1968)

He was born on 21 June 1881 in Kiryjówka village in Volhynia region (Ukraine).

Outstanding physical chemist, the head of the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Technical University in Warsaw, lecturer (1918–1929) at the University of Warsaw. He proved that temperatures of aliphatic hydrocarbons combustion are approximately additive values.

He proposed and introduced the first international physicochemical standard – benzoic acid. On the basis of the decision of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) it became the standard of combustion temperature. He invented numerous measurement devices of high accuracy (adiabatic microcalorimeters, ebulliometers and cryometers), some of which are still used. He made an enormous contribution to the chemistry of coal and coke. A lot of technologies developed by him have been implemented in industrial practices.

IGNACY MOŚCICKI (1867–1946)

Born on 1 December 1867 in Mierzanowo - outstanding chemist, the President of the Republic of Poland in 1926–1936.

He graduated from the Technical University in Riga, and then he continued studies at the Finsbury Technical College and in Patent Library. He worked in Fribourg in Switzerland making numerous inventions.

In 1912 he was appointed to the Department of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry of the Lviv Polytechnic (until 1925) and in Technical University in Warsaw (1925–1926). He was a member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, from 1930 a member of the Warsaw Science Society and a honorary member of the Polish Chemical Society. He is the author of over 60 scientific works and patents. His greatest scientific achievement was development of industrial method for obtaining nitric acid from air by synthesis of nitrogen oxides in electric arc. He conducted works related to organization of chemical industry in independent Poland. He was also the rector at the Lviv Polytechnic.

Supported by Józef Piłsudski, he was elected the president of the Republic of Poland in 1926. On 17 September 1939he was interned in Romania, and on 30 September the same year he resigned from the office of the president. In December 1939 he moved to Switzerland where he spent the last years of his life.

JĘDRZEJ ŚNIADECKI (1768–1838)

Born in 1768 in Rydlewo near Żnin, died in 1838 in Vilnius - chemist, doctor, philosopher, biologist, publicist, called the father of Polish chemistry. Professor of the Main School in Vilnius: in 1797–1822 of chemistry, in 1826–1832 of medicine, from 1832 at the Medical and Surgical Academy in Vilnius. Co-founder and the President (from 1819) of the Wastrel Society, founder of the Vilnius Medical Society.

He worked on the theory of dissolution processes. He discovered ruthenium (which he called “west” in his work ”Treatise on the new metal discovered in raw platinum”, 1808), however the discovery was not officially confirmed.

As for philosophical views, he was an advocate of empiricism and materialism of the French Enlightenment and the concept of “healthy reason” of the Scottish school of philosophy. The creator of Polish chemical terminology, he wrote the first chemistry handbook in Polish, he introduced the concept of metabolism in his ”Innovative theory of organic existence” (1804–1811), which substantially preceded the development of natural sciences – it had a lot of editions, also translated into other languages.

He was also a propagator of hygiene and dietetics and pioneer of physical education in Poland.

 

 KAROL OLSZEWSKI & ZYGMUNT WRÓBLEWSKI

Karol Olszewski (1846-1915).

The founder of Polish and world cryogenics, physicist and chemist, professor at the Jagiellonian University. Member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow He contributed to the development of roentgenography.Zygmunt Wróblewski (1845–1888)

   

 

 

  

 

Zygmunt Wróblewski (1845-1888).

Polish researcher – physicist. Member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, professor at the Jagiellonian University (from 1882). He conducted research into properties of gases and metals in low temperatures and gaseous diffusion. He determined critical temperatures of numerous gases, including critical parameters of hydrogen.

Karol Olszewski and Zygmunt Wróblewski conducted research on the condensation of air. In 1883 they were the first scientists in the world who condensed oxygen and nitrogen. Later both scientists consolidated carbon dioxide and methanol. For that purpose they used the cascade method of gas condensation under reduced pressure in which successive condensed and boiling gas reduced temperature for subsequent condensations in lower temperatures. Due to joint achievements both scientists are often listed together.

WIKTOR KEMULA (1902–1985)

Born on 6 November 1902 in Izmaił – an outstanding Polish chemist, founder of the Polish School of Polarography.

Professor at the University in Lviv (1936–1941), the head of the Inorganic Chemistry Department at the University of Warsaw (1945–1968), the head of the Physical and Chemical Analytical Methods Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (1952–1972). He was a member of the Warsaw Scientific Society (from 1945) and its President in the period from 1981 to 1985.

Member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1950, the Polish Academy of Sciences from 1956, the Interna-tional Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1947–1985). The president of the Polish Chemical Society (1955-1959, 1972-1974). Member of a lot of international chemical societies, among others American Chemical Society (from 1938) and Royal Society of Chemistry (from 1979). Awarded the degree honoris causa of the University of Warsaw.

Editor of the following magazines: “Roczniki Chemii” and “Chemia Analityczna”.

The founder of the Polish school of polarography. He devoted numerous works to the study of physical and chemical phenomena associated with polarographic analysis. He introduced significant modifications to this method, thus initiating cyclic voltammetry and cathodic oscillography. He conduced research into the reduction of organic compo-unds, properties of complex compounds, impact of surfactants on electrode processes and oxidation of amalgams.

Analytical methods developed by Wiktor Kemula have been used in studies of numerous technical products (e.g. reactor materials) as well as clinical and pharmaceutical tests.

KAZIMIERZ FUNK (1884–1967)

Born on 23 February 1884 in Warsaw, where he graduated from grammar school. He studied biology in Geneva, and then chemistry in Bern (Switzerland) where in 1904 he was awarded PhD degree. As a biochemist, he conduc-ted most of his research at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, as well as in Germany and Great Britain.

He acted as the head of the biochemistry department at the National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw, and spent the last years of his life in the USA.

He coined the term “vitamins”, which he introduced in 1912 (from Latin vita = life + amines), and initiated studies about these compounds. After long and strenuous tests on rats and pigeons he discovered and isolated the first vitamin – vitamin B, and subsequently discovered it in various types of food, e.g. in yeast and milk. He was the author of the work “Die Vitamine” about properties of vitamins and the deficiencies of vitamins as the cause of diseases.

Kazimierz Funk also worked on isolating insulin and niacin. In the last period of his life he conducted research into causes of cancer.

ANDRZEJ SADLEJ (1941–2010)

Born in Lublin in 1941, died in 2010. He commenced his scientific career at faculties of sciences at the University of Warsaw and the Jagiellonian University, where he studied chemistry. In 1964 he was awarded a PhD degree. In 1972 he obtained a habilitation degree in theoretical chemistry at the Jagiellonian University.

From 1996 he worked at the Faculty of Chemistry at the Nicolaus Copernicus University where he was the founder and the head of the Quantum Chemistry Institute. He was one of the most outstanding quantum chemists of our times. He published over 250 scientific works. Works published in the 1990 in The Journal of Physical Chemistry, Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications, Theoretica Chimica Acta, Chemical Physics entered the canon of the modern quantum chemistry.

He cooperated with the best scientific centres in Poland and abroad, amongst others: the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University in Arhus (Denmark), in Lund (Sweden), in Sheffield (Great Britain) and Florida University (USA).

WŁODZIMIERZ KOŁOS (1928–1996)

Born in Pińsk in 1928. Outstanding Polish physicist and chemist, professor at the Institute for Nuclear Studies (1961-1966) and the University of Warsaw, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the first laureate of the award of the Interna-tional Academy of Quantum Molecular Science, W. Świętosławski Polish Chemical Society scientific award.

One of the founders of the modern quantum chemistry. He was the first to propose general approach to the problem of three molecules interacting via Coulomb’s law, performed precise computer calculations for the hydrogen molecule. Co-author of the first accurate adiabatic and relativistic approach to H2 molecule and calculations of: energy of quasi-bound states related to HeH+, cross-section of electron dispersion to H2, decay energy spectrum of tritium molecule and energy levels of muon molecule.

 

MICHAŁ SĘDZIWÓJ (1566–1636)

Michał Sędziwój of Ostoja coat of arms (Lat. Sendivogius Polonus), born on 2 February 1566 in Łukowica, died in 1636 in Krawarz.

A famous Polish alchemist, scientist, philosopher and diplomat from the 17th century. He studied in Krakow, Leipzig, Vienna and Altdorf, then he worked at the court of the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. In 1599 he came back to Poland and was admitted to the court of the king Zygmunt III Waza. He conducted alchemical studies in Krzepice.

He was the author of famous alchemic works, e.g. ”Tractatus de lapide philosophorum and cosmopolitani novum lumen chymicu” (1604) published under various titles and translated into a lot of languages. He developed methods for obtaining numerous metals, he also studied salts ands sulphur. Wealthy men and kings strived to win him over believing that he acquired the ability to turn metal into gold. At that time no other Pole in Europe could compete with him in terms of popularity.

Today it is known that he was the first scientist who discovered oxygen, calling it mysterious food of life. However at that time he was not associated with discovery of oxygen but rather secret knowledge about production of gold. During his life he had a reputation of a great alchemist and magician, but in fact he was a down-to-earth scientist, applying classical empiricism in his research.