Karol Stanisław Olszewski (Polish pronunciation: ; 29 January 1846 – 24 March 1915) was a Polish

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. Together with

Zygmunt Wróblewski Zygmunt, Zigmunt, Zigmund and spelling variations thereof are masculine given names and occasionally surnames. It has the same etymology as the Germanic name Zigmund. People so named include: Given name Medieval period * Sigismund I the Old (1467� ...

, in 1883 he was the first scientist in the world to liquify

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

Life and career

He was born in 1846 in Broniszów. He was a graduate of Kazimierz Brodziński High School in

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

(I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Kazimierza Brodzińskiego). He studied at

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 ...

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

in the departments of mathematics and physics, and chemistry and biology. He carried out his first experiments using a personally improved compressor, compressing and condensing

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

. Olszewski defended his doctoral dissertation at

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

, then returned to Kraków, where he was made ''profesor nadzwyczajny'' (

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

). In 1883,

and Karol Olszewski were the first in the world to liquefy

and

from the atmosphere in a stable state (not, as had been the case up to then, in a dynamic state in the transitional form as vapor). In 1884, in his Kraków laboratory, Olszewski was the first to liquefy

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

in a dynamic state, achieving a record low temperature of −225 °C (48 K). In 1895 he liquefied

argon Argon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abu ...

. He then failed only to liquefy the newly discovered

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

element. In January 1896, on hearing of

Wilhelm Röntgen Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; 27 March 1845 – 10 February 1923), sometimes Transliteration, transliterated as Roentgen ( ), was a German physicist who produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays. As ...

's work with

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

s, within a few days Olszewski replicated it. Later on, in early February he provided an X-ray image of a luxated elbow thus initiating the university's department of radiology. He died on 24 March 1915 and was buried at the

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 ...

in Kraków. In 2018, his ashes were transferred to one of Poland's National Pantheons located at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

district of Kraków. According to physicist

Andrzej Kajetan Wróblewski Andrzej Kajetan Wróblewski (Polish pronunciation: ''Vrooblevski'', born 7 August 1933 in Warsaw) – Polish experimental physicist, ordinary professor doctor habilitation, habilitatus (since 1971), Dean (education), dean of the Physics Departm ...

, Olszewski is among the greatest Polish physicists of the 20th century alongside

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

, Marian Smoluchowski,

Jerzy Pniewski Jerzy Pniewski (Polish: ; June 1, 1913 – June 16, 1989) was a Polish physicist, professor at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is best known for discovering the hypernucleus together with Marian Danys ...

, and Marian Danysz.

Notes

References

* "Olszewski, Karol Stanisław," ''

Encyklopedia Polski This is a list of encyclopedias by language. Albanian Encyclopedias written in Albanian. * '' Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary'' (): published by Academy of Sciences of Albania; ** First Edition (1985; ''FESH'') ** New Edition (2008/09; ''Botim ...

'', p. 464. {{DEFAULTSORT:Olszewski, Karol 1846 births 1915 deaths People from Ropczyce-Sędziszów County Chemists from Austria-Hungary Physicists from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Polish chemists 19th-century Polish physicists Jagiellonian University alumni Heidelberg University alumni

Life and career

See also

Notes

References