Poster Exhibition Pictures from the history of Polish Science. Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers at the University of Göttingen (1895–1933)

Group of Polish students and stipendists. Göttingen, summer 1907. From the left (sitting): Antoni Łomnicki (1881-1941), Wacław Werner (1879-1948), Julian Przedborski (1886-1931), Tadeusz Banachiewicz (1882-1954), Wacław Sierpiński (1882-1969) and Kazimierz Józef Horowicz (1884-1920). From the left (standing): Leon Szulc (Leo Schultz) (c. 1880-????), Jan Norbert Kroó (1886-1942), Felicjan Kępiński (1885-1966), Władysław Dziewulski (1878-1962), Włodzimierz Stożek (1883-1941) and Hugo Dionizy Steinhaus (1887-1972). The photograph comes from the Archive of Polish Mathematicians of the library of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw (ZF.263)

The University of Göttingen was a place, to which Polish mathematicians have journeyed since its founding. In the second half of the XIX century it became a world "Mecca of mathematicians". It was there, that between the years 1895-1933, about fifty Polish men and women studied in the area of science and conducted research in mathematics, physics and astronomy. The scholars who studied in Göttingen became the scientific elite in the reborn country of Poland. In the interwar period they lead chairs in mathematics, physics and astronomy at all Polish universities; they ran physics laboratories and astronomical observatories. They also took part in organizing a scientific community in the newly established independent country: they were among the founders of the Polish Mathematical Society, Polish Physical Society and Polish Astronomical Society. Four of them were among sixteen founders of the PTM.

The aim of this exhibition is to acquaint a wider audience with a large group of Polish scientists associated with the University of Göttingen. The exhibition will consist of photographs, copies of documents, fragments of reports and memoirs. The materials date back to the times shown in the exhibition, and until now, most of them have never been shown publicly.


Danuta Ciesielska (IHN PAN)
Lech Maligranda (Luleå University of Technology, Sweden)
Joanna Zwierzyńska (IHN PAN, UŚ)