Lucyna Mirosława Falkowska (1951 – 7 April 2021) was a Polish scientist and

oceanographer Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

. She specialized in

atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science that studies the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets. This multidisciplinary approach of research draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, comput ...

, chemical oceanography and protection of the marine environment. Falkowska worked on the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography of

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk () is a public university, public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History The Universi ...

Education

Falkowska obtained her doctorate in 1986 with a thesis on the inflow of

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

and

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

compounds from the atmosphere to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

(based on studies of the Southern Baltic Sea 1981–1985). On 29 September 1997 Falkowska was awarded a postdoctoral degree in oceanology at the Department of Biology, Geography and Oceanology, University of Gdańsk, on the basis of her thesis "Sea surface microvegetation: properties and processes". The habilitation process began on 1 January 1996.

Career

Falkowska directed several research projects in 2001. On 8 June 2006, Falkowska was awarded the title of Professor of Earth Sciences by President

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

. Falkowska was full professor and head of the Laboratory of Sea and Atmospheric Chemistry at the Institute of Oceanography, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography, University of Gdańsk. She was a specialist member of the Committee for Marine Research, Division III of the Natural Sciences and Earth Sciences of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

. From 1999 to 2011 Falkowska was a supervisor of eleven PhD theses, a reviewer of two habilitation theses and three PhD theses.

Honours and awards

In 1999, she was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit. She also received the Medal of the National Education Commission and many awards from the Rector of the University of Gdańsk. She was a member of the Gdańsk Scientific Society.

Death

Falkowska died on 7 April 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkowska, Lucyna Miroslawa Polish oceanographers 21st-century Polish women scientists 21st-century Polish chemists Polish women chemists Polish chemists 1951 births 2021 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing Academic staff of the University of Gdańsk Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)