Karol Franciszek Pollak (15 November 1859 – 17 December 1928) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, inventor and businessman.

Early life

Karol Pollak was born in

Sanok Sanok (in full the Royal Free City of Sanok — , , ''Sanok'', , ''Sianok'' or ''Sianik'', , , ''Sūnik'' or ''Sonik'') is a town in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship of southeastern Poland with 38,397 inhabitants, as of June 2016. Located on the San ...

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...

, part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. His father was Karol Pollak (1818–80), who was a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

, bookseller and publisher. The younger Karol worked as an

electrician An electrician is a tradesman, tradesperson specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, transmission lines, stationary machines, and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the ...

in his youth and showed great technical skills in it. In 1883 he was employed in the laboratory of a British company "The Patent Utilisation Co". He designed and recorded his first patents during this period. In 1885 he studied

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the Royal Polytechnic University in Charlottenburg.

Activity

In Berlin, Pollak ran the electrical equipment factory "G. Wehr Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt". Later he returned to Britain to commercialize his patents, which were released under the anglicised version of his name, "Charles Pollak". In 1886, he became the director of a Paris company of electric tramways of his design. In the meantime he worked on the design of the

electrochemical cell An electrochemical cell is a device that either generates electrical energy from chemical reactions in a so called galvanic cell, galvanic or voltaic cell, or induces chemical reactions (electrolysis) by applying external electrical energy in an ...

. He was very successful in this and became well known for it. Later he founded battery factories in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, (Germany) and

Liesing Liesing () is the 23rd district of Vienna. It is on the southwest edge of Vienna, Austria. It was formed after Austria's ''Anschluss'' with Germany, when Vienna expanded from 21 districts to 26. Fifteen Lower Austrian districts, especially the o ...

, Austria. Many battery manufacturers have licensed his designs. In 1899 he founded his own laboratory and proceeded with further research. He obtained 98 patents on his inventions. In 1922 he returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, where a year later he founded a factory in Biała, which exists to the present day. The company started under the name of ''Polskie Towarzystwo Akumulatorowe'' and was co-founded by professor and the president of

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 1867 – 2 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Ge ...

. However, Pollak was the first president of this company. Pollak is sometimes referred to as the ''Edison of Poland''. In 1925 he received the title

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from

Warsaw University of Technology The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...

Most important inventions

His numerous inventions also cover other areas, among them:

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s, a

color printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). History of color printing Woodblock printing on textiles preceded printing on paper in both Ea ...

device, and a type of

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

. His main activity was related to chemical sources of energy –

galvanic cell A galvanic cell or voltaic cell, named after the scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, respectively, is an electrochemical cell in which an electric current is generated from spontaneous oxidation–reduction reactions. An example of a ...

s and batteries. He obtained a patent for manufacturing lead-acid batteries. Pollak bridge

Pollak also designed commutator and electrolytic rectifiers. In 1895 he was the first to suggest the use of full bridge diode rectification circuits. In 1896, Pollak invented the

electrolytic capacitor An electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity through the movement of ions, but not through the movement of electrons. This includes most soluble Salt (chemistry), salts, acids, and Base (chemistry), bases, dissolved in a polar solven ...

German paten
D.R.P. 92564

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollak, Karol 1859 births 1928 deaths Polish businesspeople Polish inventors People associated with electricity Businesspeople in electricity Businesspeople from Austria-Hungary