Stefan Błachowski (

Opawa Opawa is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located 2.5 kilometres south-east of the city centre. The name is a contraction of "Ōpāwaho", which, in Māori, means a place of ('ō') an outer '' pā'' or outpost ('pāwaho'). "Ōpāwa ...

, 19 May 1889 – 31 January 1962,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) was a Polish

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

and professor at

Poznań University Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

Life

Błachowski was the son of a military physician, Konstanty Błachowski, and Maria Niklas. He graduated from '' Gymnasium'' no. V in

Lwów 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 ...

(Lviv) and in 1907 began studying

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

, psychology and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

Lwów University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

. In 1909 he transferred briefly to

Vienna University The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public university, public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the Geogra ...

, then to

Göttingen University Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The orig ...

(1909–13: psychology, physics, biology). In 1913 he studied biology again at Vienna and successfully defended his doctoral thesis at Göttingen. In 1914-1919 Błachowski worked at

, where he was an assistant lecturer (''starszy asystent'') and from 1917 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 ...

(''docent'') of philosophy, and from 1918 librarian of the university library. He spent several years (1914–16) of his employment at Lwów University at

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

fronts, and in 1918-19 he participated as a volunteer in the defense of

. In 1919 he transferred to

, where he was an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

(''profesor nadzwyczajny''), then a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

(''profesor zwyczajny'', 1921), director of the Chair of Psychology (1919–60), dean of Humanities (1934–37), pro-rector (1938–39 and 1945–46) and rector (1946–48). In 1945-47 he was a member of the National Council (''Rada Narodowa'') at the Ministry of Education (''Ministerstwo Oświaty''). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he conducted underground teaching in

. He did research in

psychophysiology Psychophysiology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''psȳkhē'', "breath, life, soul"; , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'') is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiology, physiological bases of psych ...

, the

psychology of religion Psychology of religion consists of the application of List of psychological research methods, psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of Religion, religious traditions as well as to both religious and Irreligion, ...

, and the psychology of

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

. He was the first in Poland to conduct experimental studies of

religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...

psychoses Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...

. He was likewise a pioneer in Polish studies of memory and

mathematical 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 ...

abilities. He studied the role of

imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

, memory, erudition, the

subconscious In psychology, the subconscious is the part of the mind that is not currently of focal awareness. Scholarly use of the term The word ''subconscious'' represents an anglicized version of the French ''subconscient'' as coined in 1889 by the psycho ...

and

idea In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being ...

s in

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

creativity Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a printed literary w ...

. He initiated Polish research in

sports psychology Sport psychology was defined by the European Federation of Sport in 1996, as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. Otherwise, sport is considered as any physical activity where the individuals engage for competi ...

. In the 1930s Błachowski helped establish a psychology institute at

Wilno University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow a ...

. After

, as pro-rector and rector of

, he rebuilt the university's psychology institute, library and professors' houses, which had been burned by the Germans. Błachowski maintained contacts with many world authorities in psychology, including

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, , ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called " genetic epistemolog ...

Works

Błachowski published over a hundred scientific studies, including: * ''O wirtuozach liczb'' (1911) * ''Czem jest i czem będzie psychologia'' (1912) * ''Kilka uwag o psychologii typów matematycznych'' (1912) * ''Pamięć a świadomość'' (1913) * ''Zjawiska kontrastu optycznego u anormalnych trichromatów'' (1913) * ''O pamięci, jej istocie i kształceniu'' (1916) * ''Nastawienia i spostrzeżenia. Studium psychologiczne'' (1917) * ''O stanie i potrzebach organizacyjnych psychologii w Polsce'' (1918) * ''Problem myślenia bez słów'' (1918) * ''Chronometryczne badania nad przebiegiem startu'' (1924) * ''O szkole dla uzdolnionych'' (1924) * ''Struktura typów wyobrażeniowych'' (1925) * ''W sprawie analizy wybitnych zdolności rachunkowych'' (1925) * ''Kłamstwo'' (1932) * ''Wyniki psychologii pedagogicznej'' (1934) * ''O sztucznych ekstazach i widzeniach'' (1938)

Memberships

*Correspondent (1946), member (1948),

Polish Academy of Learning The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning ( pl, Polska Akademia Umiejętności), headquartered in Kraków and founded in 1872, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of scien ...

. *

Poznań Society of Friends of Learning The Poznań Society for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences ( pl, Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, ''PTPN'') is a learned society in Poznań, Poland, established in 1857, of scholars and scientists in all branches of learning. It has ...

(1920). *Co-founder, Polish Anthropological Society (1925). *Co-founder, Poznań Psychological Society (1930). *President, Polish Psychological Association (1948 till his death). *Vice president, Polish Society for Psychological Hygiene (1959–61). *Honorary member, Polish Psychiatric Association and Czech Psychotechnic Association. *Participant, International Psychological Congresses in Berlin, Copenhagen, Moscow, Paris, Prague, Barcelona and Vienna. *Officer's and Commander's Crosses of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...

References

*''Biogramy uczonych polskich'' (Biographies of Polish Scholars), ''Część I: Nauki społeczne'' (Part I: Social Sciences), ''zeszyt 1: A-J'' (fascicle 1: A–J),

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, 1983. * Adam A. Zych: Higiena psychiczna w Polsce. Słownik biograficzny. (Mental Hygiene in Poland. Biographical Dictionary). Wrocław: Wyd. Nauk. DSW, 2013, pp. 45–48. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blachowski, Stefan 1889 births 1962 deaths Polish psychologists People from Kamienna Góra County Academic staff of Vilnius University 20th-century French psychologists 20th-century French philosophers

Life

Works

Memberships

See also

References