Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz (, born 18 December 1937) is a Polish mathematician, alpinist, politicianEuropa Publications, "The International Who's Who 2004", Routledge, 2003
pg. 1258
/ref> and was a vice-president of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee from January 2007 until mid-2009."A 5-member delegation representing the European Parliament pays a 4-day visit to Taiwan.",

Biographical note

Janusz Onyszkiewicz was born in Lwów (then Poland, now Lviv,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

).Dziennik Polski, "Ankieta Eurokandyta – Janusz Onyszkiewicz", 20 May 2009

/ref> He graduated in mathematics from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. He became a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, and was also known as an alpinist in the 1970s along with his wife

Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz (1942 – 17 October 1978) was a British climber, mountaineer, painter and lithography lecturer. She made the first ascent of Gasherbrum III, at the time the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. Chadwick-Onyszk ...

. In the 1980s, he became the spokesman for the anti-communist Solidarity movement. He became popular among foreign journalists because of his fluent English. After the introduction of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981, he was arrested and interned.Krzysztof Ciesielski and Zdzislaw Pogoda, "Janusz Onyszkiewicz", The Mathematical Intelligencer, Volume 12, Number 4 / December, 1990

/ref> After the fall of communism in 1989, Onyszkiewicz became a member of the Polish

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

. He served all subsequent terms from May 1989 until 2001. In the spring of 1990, Onyszkiewicz and

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

became the first civilian vice-ministers of defence in the communist-dominated Ministry of Defence. Later, Onyszkiewicz was Minister of Defence twice, in the cabinets of Hanna Suchocka (1992–1993) and Jerzy Buzek (1997–2000).Jeffrey Simon, "Poland and NATO: a study in civil-military relations", Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
pg. 19
/ref> Initially, he was a member of the Obywatelski Klub Parlamentarny, then the Democratic Union and the Freedom Union. Today, he is a member of the Democratic Party, the continuation of Democratic Union. In 1999, Onyszkiewicz was awarded the Manfred Wörner Medal by the German Minister of Defence. On 13 June 2004, Onyszkiewicz was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

as a candidate of Democratic Union in the 10th constituency (

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

+ Swietokrzyskie Voivodeships) receiving 50 155 votes (6,37%). On 20 July 2004 he was elected a vice-president of the European Parliament. Onyszkiewicz is Chairman of the ICDT's International Board of Directors."An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe", International Center for Democratic Transition,

References

*Onuszkiewicz's page for elections to the European Parliamen

Biographical note

References

See also