Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (''Polish Scientific Publishers PWN''; until 1991 ''Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe'' - ''National Scientific Publishers PWN'', PWN) is a Polish

book publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, founded in 1951, when it split from the Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne. Adam Bromberg, who was the enterprise's director between 1953 and 1965, made it into communist Poland's largest publishing house. The printing house is best known as a publisher of

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

s, dictionaries and university handbooks. It is the leading Polish provider of scientific, educational and professional literature as well as works of reference. It authored the

Wielka Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN The ''Wielka Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN'' (Great Universal Encyclopedia PWN) was, until 2005, the largest Polish encyclopedia ever written. It was published between 1962 and 1970 by Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (State Scientific Publishers, ...

, by then the largest Polish encyclopedia, as well as its successor, the

Wielka Encyklopedia PWN ''Wielka Encyklopedia PWN'' (''Great PWN Encyclopedia'') is a universal encyclopedia in Polish, published by Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (until 1991 Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe - State Scientific Publishers, PWN) in Warsaw, between 2001 and 20 ...

, which was published between 2001 and 2005. There is also an online PWN encyclopedia –

Internetowa encyklopedia PWN ''Internetowa encyklopedia PWN'' (Polish for ''Internet PWN Encyclopedia'') is a free online Polish-language encyclopedia published by Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (''Polish Scientific Publishers PWN''; until 1991 ''Państwowe ...

. Initially state-owned, since 1991 it has been a private company. The company is a member of

International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, known for short by the initials for the last part of its name, STM, is an international trade association organised and run for the benefit of scholarly, scientific, tec ...

References

Book publishing companies of Poland Educational book publishing companies 1951 establishments in Poland Publishing companies established in 1951 Companies based in Warsaw {{poland-company-stub