ALEKSANDER KRUPKOWSKI (1894-1978)
He graduated from the Faculty of Metallurgy at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in 1917. After returning to Poland, he started working in secondary education, and then as a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Metal Science at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1928, he received his doctorate; in 1930, the degree of venia legendi, (corresponding to the contemporary Polish habilitation degree – a post-doctoral academic degree) and was appointed associate professor, and then, in 1939, professor. Also in 1930, he was appointed professor at the AGH University of Science and Technology and in 1934, member of the Academy of Technical Sciences. During the Second World War, together with other professors from Kraków’s universities, he was deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and returned in 1940. Following the establishment of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in 1952, he also became its member. He was appointed Head of the Metals Department of PAN, founded upon his initiative and based in Cracow, and since 1953, operated as part of the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPPT PAN). In 1969, the department started operating as an independent research centre of the PAN and, subsequently, was given the name of A. Krupkowski Institute of Metallurgy and Metal Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Aleksander Krupkowski’s high versatility allowed for developing his interests in a vast area of metal science: thermodynamics of basic metal production and refining processes; the kinetics of oxidation and reduction reactions in oxides; metal rectification: phase transitions in alloys, plastic deformation processes, and mechanical properties. He succeeded in achieving outstanding results in all these areas of interest.
The author of about 300 papers published in Poland and abroad, including two very significant monographs: Zasady termodynamiki i ich zastosowanie w metalurigii i metaloznawstwie (Principles of thermodynamics and their application in metallurgy and metal science, 1958) and Podstawowe zagadnienia teorii procesów metalurgicznych (Basic issues of the theory of metallurgic processes, 1974). Despite his lack of commitment in the political life of the communist PRL (which to many guaranteed career successes), he was awarded highest state prizes for his contribution to science – he was a three-time laureate of the First Class State Award and was conferred the degree of honorary doctor (doctor honoris causa), at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology.