Science & Technology

We are all directly and indirectly connected with education. We are teachers, students, parents of students, givers, and recipients of what we, as students, acquired during our education.

Dr. Ludwik Rajchman (1884-1965) — a remarkable but lesser-known physician, played a pivotal role in revolutionizing medical practice on a global scale.

After World War I, the United States provided the countries of devastated Europe with multi-million dollar aid transferred as financial aid, food, clothing, or technical advice. Poland was affected not only by the effects of the Great War (1914-1918) as its major battleground, but also by the consequences of the Bolshevik invasion and infectious disease epidemics ravaging Poland at the time. It was one of the countries receiving help.

Nicolaus Copernicus is "the man who stopped the Sun and moved the Earth", as he is commonly referred to. However, this was someone with truly versatile interests who thoroughly revolutionized science. This year marks the 550th anniversary of his birth.

It was with great sadness that I received the news that H.E. Shevah Weiss had passed away. A wonderful man, a Jew, an Israeli patriot who loved and respected Poland. Knight of the Order of the White Eagle. A great loss for us and for Polish-Israeli relations. RIP.

On December 5th, 2022, the first nuclear fusion experiment with significant energy gains was conducted at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. What is nuclear fusion and how did the scientists achieve such a feat?

All three winners this year received an award for research into chaotic and seemingly random phenomena and their modeling. Giorgio Parisi has been awarded for his revolutionary contribution to the theory of disordered materials and random processes. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann laid the foundations for our understanding of the Earth's climate and how humanity affects it.

In today's interview, Kuryer Polski hosts Ryszard Jankowiak, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Ancillary Distinguished Professor of Physics of Kansas State University.

Today, it is difficult to avoid the omnipresent news about the course of vaccinations against COVID-19, or about their alleged risks and harmful effects, or about their effectiveness, or lack thereof. Many people express their opinions on this subject, both publicly and privately, but few really understand how – on the basis of which principles – these vaccines work at all, what their mechanism is, what their risks are, and how they are different and novel, compared to the traditional ones. We all know that they were developed and approved for use extremely quickly – as far as vaccines go – in less than a year; but hardly anyone realizes why it was even possible. Let's try here, at least in part, to answer these questions and, along the way, point to the partially Polish origin of the technology that made these vaccines possible.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to celebrate the hundred-year jubilee of one of the greatest personalities of Polish science. We report with sadness that on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at the age of 99, professor Wacław Szybalski, an outstanding researcher, a true genius of molecular genetics, called the "king of genetics", repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, honorary doctor of many universities, passed away. In prof. Wacław Szybalski, we say farewell to an excellent specialist in genetics and molecular medicine, and to the father of the so-called synthetic biology. He was a world-class scientist, mentor, educator, model for many Polish researchers, and - at the same time - a great Pole and an active patriot.

The prestigious Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020 was awarded to two women: French chemist Emmanuelle Charpentier, today associated with the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, and American Jennifer A. Doudn, from the University of California at Berkeley. The award was granted for developing the method of gene editing.