Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

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 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 Vienna University of Technology in Civil and Water Engineering (1925). He furthered his studies at the Faculte des Sciences at Paris University (1926-1927). Doctorates: 1933, at the Vienna University of Technology – a dissertation on reinforced concrete structures, in 1934, at the Warsaw University of Technology – a dissertation on the theory of plasticity (under the supervision of M.T. Hubert). Habilitated in 1937 at the AGH University of Science and Technology on statics and dynamics of anti-aircraft structures. In 1946, he became associate professor, and head of the Department of Strength of Materials at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow. He organized research in the field of prestressed structures and applied mechanics at two universities – the AGH and the newly-established Cracow University of Technology. In 1952, he started his cooperation with the Warsaw University of Technology and the then-establishing Polish Academy of Sciences and created the first Department of Theory of Elasticity and Plasticity and the Department of the Mechanics of Continuous Media, thus creating solid foundations for the IPPT, which he directed until 1970.

In 1954, he became a corresponding member, and in 1956, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Director of IPPT (1963-1970), Secretary to the 4th Department of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1957-1960), member of the PAN Presidium, co-organizer and rector of the International Centre for the Mechanical Sciences in Udine (CISM) (1970-1980). Creator of the world-famous Polish school of theory of elasticity. His scientific research included: theory of elasticity; theory of prestressed structures; rheology.

Author of 290 scientific papers, 10 monographs, editor of 6. Co-founder and member of the board of the RILEM and IASS, IUTAM and IABSE. Co-founder of the Archiwum Mechaniki Stosowanej (Archives of Applied Mechanics) and Rozprawy Inżynierskie (Engineering Theses), 1949. Member of editorial committees of many magazines, organizer of international meetings. He initiated the Polish Conference of Solid Mechanics. Great international authority, propagator of the achievements of Polish mechanics abroad. Supervisor of 16 doctoral students. Honorary doctor (doctor honoris causa) of 9 domestic and foreign universities. Member of 17 foreign academies of sciences. Winner of many state and international awards, a two-time winner of the Polish State Award.

Aviation Engineer, graduate (1929) and researcher at the Warsaw University of Technology (1939-1945). His research in analytical mapping and the use of conformal mapping resulted in receiving a doctorate in 1931 and habilitation in 1934. Corresponding member (1954) and then member (1966) of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 1946, professor at the Silesian University of Technology, where responsible for the initiation of technical studies. Since 1952, professor at the Department of Aerodynamics at WUT, and since 1955, at the Department of Aerohydrodynamics of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Warsaw. Organizer and Head of the Department of the Mechanics of Fluids and Gases at IPPT PAN (1953-1961). Initiator of the first scientific conferences devoted to the issues and methods in liquid mechanics, later transformed into international biennial symposia. Author of 50 scientific papers, most of which were devoted to the methods of analyzing aerodynamic fields in spatial, non-stationary compressible flows. Author of the unified theory of simple and double waves in gas dynamics and mathematical bases for the description of inviscid compressible flows.

Radio and electronics engineer. One of the first graduates of the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in 1919 and the Military Academy for communications officers in Paris (1922). As such, he was a lecturer on radio engineering in military schools.

In 1928 he received a doctorate degree for his thesis on radio wave stability compensation method (Metoda kompensacyjna kontroli stałości fali) and was appointed Chair of Radio Engineering at the WUT Faculty of Electrical Engineering. In 1929 he was appointed associate professor and subsequently, professor in 1935.

In 1928 he initiated the establishment of the first radio engineering institute in the country (later Institute of Telecommunications), which he directed since 1934. During occupation years, he was the underground lecturer at University. Simultaneously to his educational career, he was a soldier of the Polish Home Army, in which he managed to decipher missile navigating systems of V-2 rockets. In 1945 he founded the WUT Faculty of Electrical Engineering (later Faculty of Communications), where he chaired the Radiolocation Institute until retirement in 1968. He organized the first Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) research units: the Electronics Unit and The Institute of Fundamental Technological Research in Science (IPPT), to which the unit was later incorporated. In 1961-1963 he was appointed Director of IPPT PAN.

Janusz Groszkowiski was an outstanding expert in high vacuum measurement. He gained international recognition for his work on ionizing heads for low-pressure measurement. Author of 16 patents and 361 scientific papers, also books (Techinika wysokiej próżni, 1972). Supervisor of 33 dissertations.

Since 1936, he was a member of Akademia Nauk Technicznych (Academy of Technical Sciences), since 1949 – Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie (Warsaw Scientific Society), since 1952 he was a member of the PAN, since 1957 – its vice-president, and then in 1962-1971 its president. He resigned from being a member of the Sejm (lower house of the Polish Parliament) of the PRL - People’s Republic of Poland, and vice-president of Rada Państwa (the State Council), as an act of protest against progressing political repression in 1976. Member of 6 foreign academies of sciences (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Soviet Union, Romani, Bulgaria and Cuba) and honorary member of many associations. Laureate of the First Class State Award (1951, 1955, 1968, 1979). He was conferred the degree of honorary doctor (doctor honoris causa), at: Warsaw, Gdansk, and Łódź Universities of Technology. Holder of state awards: the Gold Cross of the Virtuti Militari War Order, Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (twice), Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The Military Communication Institute credited professor Groszkowski’s scientific achievements, giving the Institute his name.