This year marks 203 years since the birth (8 or 23 March 1822) of Ignacy Łukasiewicz. He is an exemplary inventor and social activist. Those who know him associate him with the invention of the kerosene lamp. However, he is a much more complex and interesting figure. And curiously, in his area he was known for something completely different.
Without a doubt, the most important thing in Łukasiewicz's history is not so much the invention of the kerosene lamp, but his contribution to the industrial revolution, which we associate mainly with coal. However, over the last 200 years, products and fuels obtained from the processing of crude oil have proven to be equally important.
Early oil mine in Galicia (Source: Wikipedia)
The lack of interest in oil stemmed from its limited usefulness in its unprocessed form. However, Ignacy Łukasiewicz saw intriguing potential in this raw material and the result of his determination was that it was possible to extract fractions from oil that became fundamental for the development of entire industries. As a result, he laid the foundations for a new field of science. He used the results of his research for practical purposes - he developed a method for obtaining and using kerosene.
Kerosene is associated with the kerosene lamp, but here too the breakthrough of this invention is much greater than is commonly assumed. Kerosene has two special features. First, when burning it gives a very bright flame, and second, it does not produce acrid smoke, which was one of the disadvantages of oil lamps. Seeing that kerosene cannot be burned in traditional lamps, Łukasiewicz designed a kerosene lamp. Why is this invention so important and groundbreaking?
Ignacy Łukasiewicz (1822-1882) (Source: Wikipedia)
On July 31, 1853, in the hospital in Lviv's Łyczakow district, there was a sudden need to perform an operation. Let's add that it was after dark. Doctor Zatorski decided to perform the procedure under artificial light, precisely from a kerosene lamp installed in a pharmacy located a few streets away. It was largely this incident that showed how revolutionary the lamp was. It became a sensation all over the world.
It is worth paying attention to the people who appeared on Łukasiewicz's path. The first person to notice his potential was Piotr Mikolasch, to whom Łukasiewicz owes his graduation. The owner of a Lviv pharmacy, where Łukasiewicz began working in 1848, helped him, despite the restrictions of the occupying powers, to begin his education at the Jagiellonian University, which the future inventor completed at the University of Vienna. Together with Jan Zeh, Mikolasch's assistant, Łukasiewicz began research, as a result of which he managed to isolate kerosene.
Mikolasch Pharmacy, Lviv (Source: Wikipedia)
The second important thing that Łukasiewicz did, apart from popularizing the use of kerosene, was to build an oil mine, which could be extracted depending on the needs. Oil had been known for thousands of years, but its extraction was doomed to chance and the laws of nature. Today, oil extraction is associated in the world with Saudi Arabia or Texas, but the first mine was located in Bóbrka near Krosno.
Ignacy Łukasiewicz achieved success thanks to a trait of his character, namely determination. The beginnings of the inventor's story are a struggle with adversity, unsuccessful ventures, and even prison.
Łukasiewicz had great difficulty in gaining an education – for political, health, and above all financial reasons of his parents. At one point, they were faced with a choice of which child they wanted to further educate. They did not have the means to educate both Ignacy and Franciszek. Unfortunately, Ignacy chose the latter. This is where Ignacy Łukasiewicz's adventure with pharmacy begins somewhat by accident. He takes up employment at Antoni Swoboda's pharmacy in Łańcut. He is appreciated by his employer, who facilitates his further education despite the problems created by the occupier. In 1840, he passes the exam and is promoted to assistant pharmacist.
In the meantime, another of his traits becomes apparent, namely his tendency to take risks, to put everything on one card. He decides to set up a company with friends that imported medicinal products based on crude oil from abroad. It was considered, and quite rightly, to be a cure for some skin diseases. Łukasiewicz stated that he would invest large funds to import the "brilliant" medicinal product. Unfortunately, this plan failed and the company went bankrupt. Despite this, Ignacy Łukasiewicz's interest in crude oil was still great.
Before Ignacy Łukasiewicz went to the Lviv pharmacy "Pod Złotą Gwiazdą" (Under a Golden Star) in 1848, which opened the way for him to develop scientifically, his persistence was also manifested in his involvement in the fight for the rights of Poles. In 1845, he became acquainted with the organizer of the Kraków Uprising, Edward Dembowski, and as a result of his conspiratorial involvement, he was imprisoned for almost two years.
Here we come to the key feature of Łukasiewicz, which made him very well-known in his time in the Bóbrka area. He had an incredibly strong sense of social justice. He was a very wealthy man, but at the same time he did not flaunt his wealth. What is more, he was very willing to share it. He initiated support for young talented people through scholarships and he built schools. All this earned him the title of "Father Łukasiewicz".
It is worth remembering that Ignacy Łukasiewicz, thanks to the invention of artificial lighting, which was strong and did not produce acrid smoke, became the first person to extend humanity's length of the day so effectively. Previously, artificial lighting did not provide any possibilities for efficient work after dark. This invention caused the biological clock to be disturbed. Newspapers all over the world wrote about Łukasiewicz's lamp. This fact gave Łukasiewicz the means to continue his research and, it is worth emphasizing, to provide social assistance.
The essence of the story of Ignacy Łukasiewicz is his local fame, which resulted not from the fact that he invented something great, but from the fact that he put a huge effort into helping people. He believed that since he was a Pole and had achieved success, it was his duty to share it with others. It depends only on us, Poles, whether 200 years after the birth of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, the industrial revolution will be associated only with the West or also with the figure of this extraordinary man. Knowledge about "Father Łukasiewicz", who is one of the forgotten fathers of the industrial revolution, is always worth promoting.
Translation from Polish by Andrew Wozniewicz.
