He is regarded as one of the most brilliant mathematicians in history. His colorful life has become the stuff of legend. Stefan Banach was a pioneer of functional analysis and a central figure of the Lwów School of Mathematics, one of the most important scientific circles in the history of the discipline. by Piotr Abryszeński…
Stanisław Lem remains one of the most important and most widely read science fiction writers in the world. His books have been translated into dozens of languages, with a combined circulation of over 30 million copies. Although fascinated with technology, he warned against its detrimental impact on human existence. by Jan Hlebowicz Born on…
In 1853, Ignacy Łukasiewicz was the first to distill kerosene from crude oil and use it to illuminate a pharmacy and then an operating theater in a hospital in Lwów. A year later, Łukasiewicz established an oil company and began extracting it from Bóbrka near Krosno, from what is now the oldest industrial crude oil…
If one were to search for the distinguishing feature in Wojciech Kilar’s music among the achievements of other eminent 20th-century Polish musicians, one could point to its diversity. For Kilar was not only the author of numerous, well-known and appreciated musical film illustrations – through the prism of which he is mostly remembered today –…
Władysław Konopczyński was a great figure in Polish historical science. Polish culture owes monumental works to him, for whom archives and libraries throughout Europe had no secrets. He led an interesting and somewhat controversial life across several epochs. by Tomasz Siewierski Warsaw-Lwów beginnings It seemed that Władysław, born in Warsaw in 1880, would spend…
It is easier to wipe a country off the map than to destroy its soul. In the 19th century, that truth was discovered by Russia, Prussia and Austria as the loss of independence had a mobilising effect on the Poles. It became an impulse for spreading patriotic attitudes as well as an unprecedented flourishing of…
