Prof Witold Nowacki H

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

PPAS (1911–1986) was a Polish mathematician and expert on the mechanics of elasticity and thermoelasticity. He served as President 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 ...

from 1978 to 1980 and was the first President of the Society of the Interaction of Mathematics and Mechanics.

Life

He was born in Zakrzewo in

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 ...

on 20 July 1911, the son of Ludwik Nowacki and his wife, Bronislawa Czyzewska. He studied at

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Polytechnic graduating in 1934. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served as an officer in the Polish Army but was captured in 1939 and spent the entire war as a German

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. In 1945 he was accepted as a Professor at

Gdańsk University of Technology The Gdańsk University of Technology (Gdańsk Tech, formerly GUT; ) is a public research university in Gdańsk, Poland. Founded in 1904 and re-established in 1945, it is the oldest university of technology in modern-day Poland. It is consisten ...

lecturing in the Strength of Materials. In 1952 he transferred to Warsaw Polytechnic lecturing in Building Mechanics and from 1955 taught Elasticity and Plasticity at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

. In 1979 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. Nowacki retired in 1980.

Personal life

In 1936, Nowacki married Janina Sztabianka. On 23 August 1986, Nowacki died in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland.

Publications

*''Thermoelasticity'' (1962) *''Dynamics of Elastic Systems'' (1963) *''Theory of Micropolar Elasticity'' (1970) *''Trends in Elasticity and Thermoelasticity'' (1971) *''Autobiographical Notes'' (1985) *''Theory of Asymmetric Elasticity'' (1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowacki, Witold 1911 births 1986 deaths Polish mathematicians Polish non-fiction writers Polish male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Academic staff of the University of Warsaw Burials at Powązki Cemetery Presidents of the Polish Academy of Sciences Prisoners of Oflag II-C