Andrzej Marek Kossakowski (20 February 1938 – 31 January 2021) was a Polish theoretical

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and a professor at the

Nicolaus Copernicus University Nicolaus is a masculine given name. It is a Latin, Greek and German form of Nicholas. Nicolaus may refer to: In science: * Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer who provided the first modern formulation of a heliocentric theory of the solar syst ...

. He was best known for his work on

open quantum system In physics, an open quantum system is a quantum-mechanical system that interacts with an external quantum system, which is known as the ''environment'' or a ''bath''. In general, these interactions significantly change the dynamics of the system an ...

Education

Andrzej Kossakowski was born on 20 February 1938 in Lwów, Poland (now

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

, in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

).''Sprawozdania Towarzystwa Naukowego w Toruniu. Tom 26. 1 I 1972 - 31 XII 1972'', wyd. PWN, Warszawa-Poznań 1974, s. 129-130 He attended a primary and secondary school in

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city ...

.''Pracownicy nauki i dydaktyki Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika 1945-1994. Materiały do biografii'', wyd. UMK, Toruń 1995, s. 358 In the years 1955-1960, he studied physics at the

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

. Right after graduation, he got a job at the same university, first as an assistant, then as a senior assistant in 1962. In 1966, he defended his

PhD thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

titled ''On the entropy increase law in informational thermodynamics of density operators'', written under the supervision of

Roman Stanisław Ingarden Roman Stanisław Ingarden (1 October 1920 in Zakopane – 12 July 2011 in Kraków) was a Polish physicist, specialised mainly in optics and statistical mechanics, son of the Polish philosopher Roman Witold Ingarden. In 1938 he began his physi ...

during the scientific internship in the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the

University of Wrocław , ''Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau'' (before 1945) , free_label = Specialty programs , free = , colors = Blue , website uni.wroc.pl The University of Wrocław ( pl, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, U ...

in the academic year 1964/1965.

Academic career

In 1967, Kossakowski was employed at the

as an

Assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

. In 1971, he was

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

with a thesis titled ''Informational decision scheme in statistical quantum mechanics''. He was promoted to

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

in 1972, and after three years he became an associate director of the Institute of Physics in didactics. He became a full professor in 1992. Andrzej Kossakowski lectured at the universities in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

(1973)

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

(1974),

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

(1975),

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

(1989),

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

(1991),

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He died in Toruń on 31 January 2021.

Recognition

In 2019, Kossakowski received the

Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science The Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science () is the most prestigious scientific award in Poland given every year from 1992 by a non-governmental non-profit Polish organization, Foundation for Polish Science (). The prize is widely regarded a ...

in the field of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

for his works on the theory of

Most influential publications

* *

References

{{authority control 1938 births 2021 deaths Scientists from Lviv Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń alumni Academic staff of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń 20th-century Polish physicists 21st-century Polish physicists