Jacek Maria Rajchel (30 January 1944 – 5 April 2020) was a Polish

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

, author and educator who specialised in

biostratigraphy Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. "Biostratigraphy." ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Biology ...

lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

and geological structure recognition of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, and architectural applications of earth materials—especially those in the southern Polish city of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, where he had lived for most of his life.

Education and career

Rajchel was born in

Chełm Chełm (; ; ) is a city in eastern Poland in the Lublin Voivodeship with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some from the border with Ukraine. The ...

, southeastern Poland, and moved to Kraków at an early age. He graduated from Bartłomiej Nowodworski High School. From 1962 to 1968, he studied at the Faculty of Geology and Exploration at the AGH University of Krakow, specialising in earth materials. During this period, the university's geologist and archaeologist became his mentor. Rajchel defended his doctoral thesis ''Geological structure of the San Valley in the Dynów-Dubiecko area'' () and was awarded with the AGH rector's prize, in 1978. He acquired his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

on the basis of the monograph ''Lithostratigraphy of sediments of the upper Palecene and Eocene of the Skole Unit'' ( in 1991. He received his professorial nomination on 29 January 2008 and worked at the . Rajchel conducted

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

work on

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

, the largest and the only permanently populated island of the

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

archipelago in northern Norway. From 1998 to 2001, he was on the board of editors of the journal '. In 2006 he became the chairman of the Commission of Geological Sciences of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

, Kraków Branch. He was given the for his teaching activities and organisational work in the field of didactics. He has received more than a dozen awards from the rector of the AGH University for his researches, academic work and popularisation of geological knowledge. Rajchel either authored or co-authored more than two hundreds scientific publications in Polish and non-Polish journals. His 2004 nonfiction book () described the use of rock resources in Kraków in extensive detail, revealing the city's potential advantages in

geotourism Geotourism is tourism associated with geological attractions and destinations. Geotourism (tourism with a geological base) deals with the abiotic natural and built environments.Sadry, B.N.(2009)''Fundamentals of Geotourism: with special emphasis ...

Death

Rajchel died at age 76, after a battle with cancer. He was buried at

Rakowicki Cemetery Rakowicki Cemetery (English: ; ) is a historic necropolis and a cultural heritage monument located on 26 Rakowicka Street in Kraków, Poland. It lies within the Administrative District No. 1 ''Stare Miasto'' meaning "Old Town" – distinct from ...

, a necropolis in central Kraków.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajchel, Jacek 1944 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Polish geologists 21st-century Polish geologists Academic staff of AGH University of Science and Technology AGH University of Science and Technology alumni Scientists from Kraków