Marian Lutosławski (1871 – 5 September 1918) was a Polish

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

and inventor born during the foreign

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

. He studied at the

Technical University An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

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, then also part of

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, and obtained a diploma in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

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in Germany. Lutosławski installed the first

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in a residential neighbourhood in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, and introduced new techniques such as the three-phase current. In 1900 he built the country's first

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

fueled by a

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...

for Hotel Bristol, Warsaw. He also designed the first two

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

bridges in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

in 1908 and 1909. Lutosławski was arrested in 1918 by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

, and was executed without trial near Moscow as a "counterrevolutionary".

Life

Marian Lutosławski was born in 1871 at an estate in Drozdowo northeast of Warsaw to a Polish family. His parents were

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

Franciszek Dionizy Lutosławski and his second wife Paulina, well-educated members of the landed gentry. Of Marian's five brothers, one would become a professor of philosophy, one a newspaper editor, and one a parliamentarian. Lutosławski settled in Warsaw after completing his studies abroad and founded a factory called ''Grafit'' (Graphite) producing fire-resistant

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable enclosure used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body ...

s. In 1898 he married Maria Zielińska. He became a lecturer at the

Warsaw Polytechnic The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (named the Wawelberg & Rotwand Technical School of Mechanics at the time). Lutosławski was an avid community leader and worked for the Association of Engineers and other professional organizations. In 1902 he founded a technical office expanding his activities into the construction industry, particularly reinforced concrete design. He built the first reinforced concrete House in Warsaw. He used reinforced concrete in the construction of the Church of Christ the Saviour in

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in present-day Lithuania, and many other projects including bridges based on the new

François Hennebique François Hennebique (26 April 1842 – 7 March 1921) was a French engineer and self-educated builder who patented his pioneering reinforced-concrete construction system in 1892, integrating separate elements of construction, such as the column ...

technology. The two bridges he built in Lublin are now considered world's RC technical Heritage Monuments (No A/956). Based on his experience, Lutosławski gave lectures and courses and wrote articles and manuals in civil engineering.

Social activism and death

In addition to his business activities Lutosławski was a member of the Polish National Democratic Party and co-founder of the student society ''Macierz Szkolna''. He was one of the initiators of the new Citizens' Committee as well as the Polish Committee for Sanitary Aid (''Polski Komitet Pomocy Sanitarnej'', PKPS) at the beginning of World War I. In 1915, during World War I, most of the Lutosławski family fled to Russia after Poland was occupied by German forces. There, he and his brother Józef organized Polish military forces hoping to liberate Poland with the help of Tsarist Russia. He represented the Central Committee of the PKPS in Moscow in order to help Poles expelled from

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

return to their re-emerging nation. His activities included setting up Polish day care, workshops, hospitals, and centers of assistance and medical care abroad. In 1917, the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

broke out. The National Democratic Party, to which Marian and Józef Lutosławski belonged, was strongly opposed to Bolshevik rule. Marian helped evacuate Polish refugees through

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

to France and England. He also supported a revolt by Polish forces in Murmansk against the communists.Kalendarium 1913–1919.
Towarzystwo im. Witolda Lutosławskiego, Warszawa. For this, Marian Lutosławski was arrested by the Bolsheviks in Murmansk on 23 April 1918 on suspicion of being a counterrevolutionary. He was taken to Moscow along with his brother Józef, who was arrested two days after him. Marian was executed without trial in a

mass execution Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members witho ...

on 5 September 1918 in

Vsekhsvyatskoye Vsekhsvyatskoye (), formerly a village outside Moscow, Russia; now a city neighbourhood in Sokol District, is known for its historic Brotherly Cemetery of Russian soldiers who died in World War One. The cemetery is also known for its mass graves ...

, a secluded village outside of Moscow, together with his brother, several days before his trial was supposed to take place.

Family

His marriage to Maria ''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Zielinska produced two sons, Franciszek and Zbigniew, and two daughters, Hanna and Zofia.

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanow ...

, one of the major European composers of the 20th century, was Lutosławski's nephew. Witold Lutosławski was five years old when his father Józef (born 1882) and Marian were killed.

Publications

* ''O zastosowaniu prądów zmiennych o wysokim napięciu do celów motorycznych'' (On the use of alternating currents of high voltage for powering motor), 1896, engineering manual * ''Prąd elektryczny – jego wytwarzanie i zastosowanie'' (Electric current - its production and use), 1900 * ''Nowy system głębokiego fundamentowania na gruntach niepewnych'' (The new system of deep foundation building in uncertain soil), 1907 * ''Pale betonowe Simplex do fundamentowania na gruntach niepewnych'' (Simplex concrete piles for foundations in uncertain soil), 1908

References

* PW Wydział Inżynierii Produkcji (2011)
History of Faculty of Production Engineering.
Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Production Engineering. Homepage.

External links