Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

Graduate of the Jagiellonian University (UJ) and AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow; he received his first doctorate under the supervision of Prof. W. Olszak in 1949, the habilitation degree in 1950. In 1952, he became associate professor and in 1958, professor. Since 1969, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). In 1953-1991, he worked at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT) and since 1956, he headed the Laboratory of Mechanical Vibration at the Department of Vibration Research and the Laboratory of Theoretical Machine Construction (since 1965), later called the Department of Mechanical Systems (1969-1977). Member of many scientific councils, including the Scientific Council of AGH Institute of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics. He was a versatile scientist with specific interest in: theoretical mechanics, vibration theory, machine dynamics, vibration technics, reliability, materials durability, materials engineering, diagnostics, systems engineering, cybernetics, praxeology and the study of science. Author of Nonlinear Vibration and Tribology study. Author of 265 articles, co-author of 7 monographs, editor of 5 monographs, and since 1963, editor-in-chief of Zagadnienia Drgań Nieliniowych (Nonlinear Vibration Problems), supervisor of over 30 doctoral dissertations. Member of scientific committees and societies. Organizer of national and international conferences. Honorary Doctor (Honoris Causa) of AGH in Cracow and the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.

Graduate of the Department of Electronics of the Warsaw University of Technology (1933). Until 1939, he worked at PZTR Państwowe Zakłady Tele- i Radiotechniki (Polish National Tele- and Radioelectronics Company) as technical director, constructor of amplifiers for the Polish Sejm, constructor of MS “Piłsudski” and MS Batory” transatlantic liners and also radio modulators for the General Staff of The Polish Armed Forces. During the Second World War, he took part in crafting equipment for the Polish Home Army and in decoding V1 and V2 missile control modules. After the war in 1945, he worked on reestablishing PZTR, and in 1949-1952 he worked at Państwowy Instytut Telekomunikacyjny (Polish Institute of Telecommunications). At around the same time, he started lecturing at the WUT Department of Electrical Engineering. Also at WUT, in 1947-1950, he headed the Telecommunications Division which, in 1951, developed into the Department of Communications. He became dean of the department in 1951, which he headed until 1952. Founder and Head of two Faculties – Podstawy Telekomunikacji (Fundamental Telecommunications) and Układy Elektroniczne (Electronic Systems). Organizer of Katedra Magnetyków i Dielektryków (Faculty of Magnetics and Dielectrics), Head of Zakład Układów Elektronicznych (Laboratory of Electronic Systems), later Zakład Układów i Aparatury Mikrofalowej (Laboratory of Microwave Systems and Equipment) at Instytut Podstaw Elektroniki (Institute of Fundamental Electronics). In 1953-1966, he organized and headed the Laboratory of Magnetics at Zakład Elektroniki IPPT PAN (IPPT PAN Laboratory of Electronics). Deputy Director for Science (1963-1966), member of the Scientific Council (1960-1978). Among his scientific pursuits, he researched the modulation and detection of laser light and optical fibres. Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, honorary doctor (honoris causa) of the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, honorary member of the Association of Polish Electrical Engineers, member of international organisations, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Institution of Electrical Engineers, the New York Academy of Sciences and The Electromagnetic Academy. Author of 250 publications, patents and utility models. Mentor of generations of engineers and scientists, supervisor of 9 doctoral dissertations at IPPT PAN.

Graduate of Gdańsk University of Technology (1934); a construction engineer. He designed port structures in Gdynia and built an airframe factory in Mielec. He spent the war in an Oflag prisoner-of-war camp, where he devoted his time to preparing the theses for his later dissertation and habilitation degree, which he received just after the war in September-December 1945, from the Warsaw University of Technology. Since 1945, at the Gdańsk University of Technology: Associate Professor (1947), Head of the Structural Mechanics Department, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering (1947-1949) and Vice-Rector (1949-1952). In 1952-1955, he headed the Department of Structural Mechanics at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1955-1981, he joined the University of Warsaw, where he took up the position of: head of the Department of Elasticity and Viscosity Theory (1955-1969), the Department of Solid Mechanics (1969-1981) and director of the Institute of Mechanics (1969-1978). Since 1952, he was a corresponding member, and since 1956 - a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Secretary of Research of the Department IV of Technical Sciences (1956-1968). At the Polish Academy of Sciences, he held the following positions: Secretary of Research (1956-1968), vice-president (1969-1977) and president (1978-1980). He was also one of the founding fathers of the IPPT: founder and manager of the Laboratory of Theory of Elasticity, mentor of the Department of Theory of Continuous Media. For many years, he chaired the IPPT Scientific Council.

Creator of the Polish school of thermal elasticity and asymmetrical elasticity and initiator of research in the theory of interconnected fields. He authored over 200 publications, including several monographs, which were translated into many languages. He is also the author of well-known academic textbooks, reprinted in Poland and abroad. He supervised 28 dissertations. Honorary doctor (doctor honoris causa) of ten universities and a member of three foreign academies of sciences. Honoured with the highest state awards, he was a two-time laureate of the First Class State Award (1955 and 1964).

Aviation Engineer, mathematician. 1933 – Sorbona Bachelor graduate in fluid mechanics applications. 1935 - graduate of Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Aeronautique. In 1936-1939, aviation constructor based in Lublin, and in 1939-1946 in Toulouse and Farnborough (UK). In 1951, he received the doctorate degree from the Warsaw University of Technology (PW), 1954 – he became associate professor, 1962 – professor. Since 1950, a corresponding member of Warszawskie Towarzystwo Naukowe (Warsaw Scientific Society), 1960 – a corresponding member, and since 1969 – a member of PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences). Professor at the PW Faculty of Aeronautical Engineering in 1947-1969 and deputy director of the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw in 1948-1957. Since 1955 – associated with IPPT PAN where in 1961-1980 he worked as Head of the Department of the Mechanics of Fluids and Gases. Chairman of the Scientific Council (RN) in 1981-1983. Since 1970, professor at the University of Warsaw (UW). Editor-in-chief of numerous professional journals on the mechanics of fluids, board member of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM). Author of over 60 publications devoted to applied aerodynamics, kinetic theory of gases, impact assessment of shock waves in hypersonic flows and, over the last years, mathematical and numerical models describing complex phenomena of the hydrodynamics of superfluid helium.

Graduate of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology – he received the diploma from Prof. J. Groszkowski in 1953. In pursuit of his academic interests, he furthered his studies at the Hertz Institute in Berlin. In 1941, he became doctor of the underground Faculty of Architecture, organized by the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1943, he received the degree of venia legendi (corresponding to the contemporary Polish habilitation degree – a post-doctoral academic degree). Later in 1946 – he became Associate Professor and in 1952 – Professor at the same university. A corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) since 1954, and a member since 1958.

Member of the PAN Praesidium, Deputy Secretary of Research (1961-1968), an honorary member of many associations and federations (e.g. ASA, FASE, ISCU). In 1936 he co-established a laboratory for the Polish Radio, where he developed a functional and acoustic design of the Central Broadcasting Station.

After the war, he carried out acoustic projects in the rebuilt areas of Sejm and National Theatre. He founded the Department of Applied Electrical Engineering and Acoustics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Gdansk University of Technology. 1951-1969 Head of the Department of Electroacoustics, first Dean of the Faculty of Communications, then Vice-Rector of the Warsaw University of Technology. Organizer of the Department of Vibration Research (1951), one of the four core departments which formed the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research (IPPT), established in 1952. First Director of IPPT (1953-1962; and later 1973-1983).

Pioneer of acoustics as an interdisciplinary science – integrating building and architecture acoustics, audioacoustics, electroacoustics, hydroacoustics, ultrasound, physical and quantum acoustics. In later years, the Professor extended his academic pursuit in the research of acoustic emission.

He authored 11 monographs and c. 230 publications, of which Physical Foundations of Technical Acoustics deserves special attention. This textbook was published by Pergamon Press, Oxford (1969), and valued by students in many countries.

Supervisor of 25 doctoral dissertations. Head of the UNESCO Department of Science Policy in Paris (1969-1972). Organizer of the Acoustics Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, initiator of the establishment of the Science Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Honorary Doctor (doctor honoris causa) at: Budapest University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow and Gdańsk University of Technology. Winner of State Awards and numerous distinctions.