HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN GDAŃSK

Abstract

This is the first part of the book entitled History of Science and Technology in Gdańsk, edited in 2014 for the 110th anniversary of the Gdańsk University of Technology (Politechnika Gdańska). It begins with a concise history of the local education with emphasis laid on schooling in the field of technology. It is followed by the history of the University of Technology founded in 1904 as German Hochschule but always having many Polish students. In 1945 it was transformed into a Polish university. The next sections are devoted to the prominent scientists of the old Gdańsk and their worldwide important achievements, not always sufficiently popularized. Many of them were members of foreign academies and scientific societies including the Royal Society of London. Then, the scientific societies of the past Gdańsk are presented, including but not limited to the Experimental Physics Society (later Naturforschende Gesellschaft), one of the first such institutions in the world. Last but not least, scientists of the beginning of the 20th century are presented as well as the pioneers of science in Gdańsk after World War II, who had to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure and create the scientific life in Gdańsk from scratch.