On 22 June, the Institute of National Remembrance hosted a press conference on the “Giants of Polish Science” project at the Janusz Kurtyka Educational Center at 21/25 Marszałkowska Street in Warsaw. It was attended by the IPN’s President Jarosław Szarek, Director of the President’s Office Dorota Koczwańska-Kalita, the textbook author and Polish Contribution to Natural Science and Technology dictionary editor Professor Bolesław Orłowski, as well as film director Alina Czerniakowska.
The conference attendees introduced the gigancinauki.pl website, talked about a draft of a dedicated textbook for schools and other teaching resources, and outlined the framework of the educational project on the achievements of outstanding Polish scientists. It was Poles who laid the foundations of modern electronics, found the basic ingredient of fertilizers, built the most famous radio in the world (the walkie-talkie), devised a mine detector used by all modern armies, and were behind the creation of a hydrogen bomb, the first lunar vehicle, or a hologram. Jan Czochralski, Ignacy Mościcki, Henryk Magnuski, Józef Kosecki, Mieczysław Bekker, Mieczysław Wolfke and many other Polish scientists revolutionized the world of technology.
In the last three centuries, while most nations were laying the foundations of their material prosperity, the conscious part of the Polish society channeled its efforts primarily into preserving the national identity and seeking freedom. As a result, our historiography noticed mostly independence activists, heroes fighting for the national cause, and authors who supported that struggle with their talent. Many globally important achievements in natural sciences were overlooked, and Polish contribution to the development of world technology completely ignored – even though several of our nineteenth-century emigrants enabled the advancement of truly exotic countries, such as Ottoman Turkey or Peru, and in many fields the Second Republic competed as equals against the greatest players. These achievements were epilogued with the impressive contribution of Polish inventions to the Allied victory in World War II.
(from the textbook preface by Prof. Bolesław Orłowski)
Since February, the Institute has been releasing documentaries on the life and achievements of leading Polish scientists, also available on IPNtvPL.