Stanisław Baranowski (25 March 1935 – 27 August 1978) was a Polish glaciologist and leader or member of a number of scientific expeditions to

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. He died as a result of an accident near the

Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station ( Polish: ''Polska Stacja Antarktyczna im. Henryka Arctowskiego'') is a Polish research station on King George Island, off the coast of Antarctica. History The station is named for Henryk Arctowski (18 ...

while on expedition. At the time of his death, he was head of the Department of Metereology and Climatology at the

University of Wrocław The University of Wrocław (, UWr; ) is a public research university in Wrocław, Poland. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with over 100,000 graduates since 1945, including some 1,900 researcher ...

. Stanisław Baranowski Spitsbergen Polar Station and Baranowski Glacier are named after him.

Biography

Stanisław Baranowski was born in

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

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 ...

on 25 March 1935 and graduated from the University of Wrocław in 1955. He carried out studies in

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...

and

climatology Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospher ...

and participated in many polar expeditions, beginning with the expedition to

during the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; ), also referred to as the third International Polar Year, was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War w ...

(1957–1958). Subsequently, he organized and led a number of Polish expeditions to that region, as well as to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

and the Sudety Mountains in Poland. He wrote over fifty scientific articles and papers. In 1971, he became a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

and the head of the Department of Metereology and Climatology at the University of Wrocław. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1976. In January 1978, while sleeping near the

on King George Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

, he was poisoned by gas escaping from a leaking cylinder. Despite receiving medical treatment, he never regained consciousness and died in a hospital in

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian language, Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', ) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital. It is one ...

, Poland on 27 August 1978. His obituary, published in the '' Journal of Glaciology'', stated the following: "Stanisław Baranowski was widely known and universally liked, and it is especially tragic that he died so young and while at the height of his creative powers." The polar station he had founded in Spitsbergen was named the Stanisław Baranowski Spitsbergen Polar Station in his memory. A commemorative plaque has been put up at the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station where he suffered his accident. The Baranowski Glacier is also named after him.

References

1935 births 1978 deaths People from Gdynia Polish glaciologists Polish climatologists Academic staff of the University of Wrocław Deaths by poisoning Poland and the Antarctic {{Glaciologist-stub