Henryk Niewodniczański (1900–1968) was a Polish

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 cau ...

, professor at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

and the creator and director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Life and career

He graduated from the Stefan Batory University in Wilno (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) in 1924 and in 1926 received his PhD from the same university. In 1927, he was awarded a fellowship at

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

. At that time his main field of interest was optics of metals and molecular optics. By studying the influence of the magnetic field on the fluorescence of mercury vapour he discovered magnetic dipole radiation. In 1934, as a fellow of

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, Niewodniczański worked in the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

's Mond Laboratory and in the Cavendish Laboratory in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. On his return to Poland in 1937, Niewodniczański worked first at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and later in Wilno where he was the

Chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of Experimental Physics at the Stefan Batory University. After the war he obtained the Chair of Experimental Physics at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His interest in atomic optics and

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

led him to a flourishing development of these branches of physics in Kraków. Niewodniczański was also an excellent organizer. In 1955 he created the Institute of Nuclear Physics, with a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-made U-120

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...

as the main research tool. As the director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics and of the Institute of Physics of the Jagiellonian University, Niewodniczański was the initiator of the majority of the research carried out in these two institutes. He assembled a group of young scientists who, undaunted by difficult conditions, built with him the necessary equipment and under his inspiration began research works. In 1988, twenty years after his death, the Institute of Nuclear Physics he created was renamed ''The Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics''.

References

Biography at the Institute of Nuclear Physics website

* ''Henryk Niewodniczański'' entry in

External links

The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics
in Kraków {{DEFAULTSORT:Niewodniczanski, Henryk 20th-century Polish physicists Scientists from Vilnius Vilnius University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of Vilnius University Academic staff of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań Academic staff of Jagiellonian University 1900 births 1968 deaths

Life and career

See also

References

External links