The aim of this article is to analyse the legal status of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, an entity operating within the system of higher education and science. The study explores the Academy’s origins, its legal form and role it plays within the system of higher education and science, and its rights and obligations under the law. The findings presented in the paper allow for drawing conclusions on the legal status of the Academy, in particular recognising that it is a legal person functioning in the legal form of a (registered) association, and at the same time an organisation directly included by the legislator in the category of entities of the system of higher education and science. The study indicates the reasons justifying the Academy’s inclusion in the catalogue of entities of this system, primarily its exceptional achievements in the field of scientific activities and popularising their results, as well as the universality of undertaken activities, tradition and reputation within the scientific community.
The report discusses the activities of the Commission on the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016/2017. It presents the lists of: scientific meeting, conferences, and new publications.
PL
Omówiono działalność Komisji Historii Nauki PAU w roku 2016/2017. Przedstawiono spisy posiedzeń naukowych, konferencji naukowych oraz nowych publikacji.
Omówiono działalność Komisji Historii Nauki PAU w roku 2016/2017. Przedstawiono spisy posiedzeń naukowych, konferencji naukowych oraz nowych publikacji.
EN
The report discusses the activities of the Commission on the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016/2017. It presents the lists of: scientific meeting, conferences, and new publications.
The report discusses the activities of the Commission on the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017/2018. It presents the lists of: scientific meetings, new members, new publications, and members who have died.
PL
Omówiona została działalność Komisji Historii Nauki PAU w roku 2017/2018. Przedstawiono spisy: posiedzeń naukowych, nowych Członków Komisji, nowych publikacji oraz Członków Komisji, którzy zmarli.
Autor przedstawił sprawozdanie z konferencji naukowej, która została zorganizowana z okazji 200. rocznicy powstania Towarzystwa Naukowego Krakowskiego. Sesja odbyła się w dniach 9–10 grudnia 2015 r. przy współpracy Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności, Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego oraz Archiwum Nauki Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności. Zgromadziła międzynarodowe grono prelegentów, którzy w swoich wystąpieniach przedstawili różne aspekty działalności TNK. Pokłosiem obrad jest publikacja Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie w 200-lecie założenia (1815–2015). Materiały konferencji naukowej 9–10 grudnia 2015, pod redakcją Wandy Lohman (Kraków 2016).
EN
The author submittedto print the report of the scientific conference which had been organized on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the foundation of the Kraków Learned Society. The session was held in December 9–10, 2015 as a result of cooperation between the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Jagiellonian University as well as the Scientific Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków. It brought an international group of speakers together to discuss in their deliberations the various aspects of the Cracow Learned Society. The outcome of the meeting is the publication Towarzystwo Naukowe Krakowskie w 200-lecie założenia (1815–2015). Materiały konferencji naukowej 9–10 grudnia 2015, edited by Wanda Lohman (Kraków, 2016).
The article deals with the analysis of the socio-political, cultural and intellectual circumstances in which the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences prepared and published the three-volume Historia Śląska od najdawniejszych czasów do roku 1400 [History of Silesia from the beginning to 1400]. Based on archival documents and published sources, an attempt is made to reconstruct the historiographical “fields of tension” that influenced this outstanding monument to Polish interwar historiography.
PL
Artykuł dotyczy analizy okoliczności społeczno-politycznych, kulturowych i intelektualnych, w których Polska Akademia Umiejętności przygotowała i wydała trzytomową Historię Śląska od najdawniejszych czasów do roku 1400. Na podstawie dokumentów archiwalnych i źródeł publikowanych zostaje podjęta próba rekonstrukcji historiograficznych „pól napięć”, które wpłynęły na kształt tego wybitnego pomnika polskiej historiografii międzywojennej.
Celem artykułu jest ukazanie wpływu, jaki słowianofilstwo czeskie wywierało na kształtowanie się składu osobowego Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie. Obejmuje on okres, kiedy odrodzony naród czeski poszukiwał wspólnoty z innymi narodami słowiańskimim i to przede wszystkim było czynnikiem sprawczym wzmożonego zainteresowania czeskich uczonych filologiami słowiańskimi, własną historią oraz historią Europy Środkowo- wschodniej, naukami społecznymi, prawnymi itd. Z analizy sprawozdań z działalności Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie od początku jej funkcjonowania (1872) aż do przekształcenia w Polską Akademię Umiejętności (1919) wynika, że ten rozkwit ukierunkowanej wspólnotowo czeskiej humanistyki spotkał się z pozytywnym oddźwiękiem ze strony krakowskiego środowiska naukowego. Jednym z dowodów na to jest fakt, iż czescy humaniści tworzyli najliczniejszą grupę wśrod wszystkich cudzoziemskich członków Akademii w Krakowie. Pismo cesarza Franciszka Jozefa I z dnia 2 maja 1871 roku, adresowane do ministra wyznań i oświaty Josefa Jirečka, było formalnym początkiem organizowania w Krakowie Akademii Umiejętności. Na jej protektora cesarz wyznaczył arcyksięcia Karola Ludwika. Członkami Akademii byli uczeni ze wszystkich ziem polskich i Polacy na emigracji. Fundusze pochodziły z dotacji państwowej oraz od prywatnych sponsorow. Akademia prowadziła dużą działalność wydawniczą. Akademia miała trzy wydziały: I. Filologiczny, II. Historyczno‑Filozoficzny, III. Matematyczno‑Przyrodniczy. W ich skład wchodzili członkowie krajowi i zagraniczni. Wśród tych drugich liczną grupę stanowili czescy uczeni. Członkami Wydziału I byli: Josef Jireček – filolog, etnograf, historyk; Vaclav Štulc – ksiądz katolicki, pisarz, poeta, tłumacz; Jan Gebauer – twórca nowej gramatyki czeskiej; Zikmund Winter – historyk; Jan Kvičala – filolog klasyczny, pedagog i polityk; Vaclav Vondrak – slawista. Do Wydziału II należeli: František Palacky – historyk, polityk; Antonin Randa – historyk; Vaclav Vladivoj Tomek – historyk, pedagog, polityk; Jaroslav Goll – historyk, poeta; Karel Kadlec – prawnik, historyk prawa, tłumacz; Emil Ott – prawnik; Jaromir Čelakovsky – prawnik, polityk. W skład Wydziału III wchodzili: Karl von Rokitansky – anatomopatolog; Bohuslav Brauner – chemik; František Vejdovsky – zoolog.
EN
The article shows that the Czech humanists formed the largest group among the foreign members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow. It is mainly based on the reports of the activities of the Academy. The Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow was established by transforming the Krakow Learned Society. The Statute of the newly founded Academy was approved by a decision of the Emperor Franz Joseph I on February 16, 1872. The Emperor nominated his brother Archduke Karl Ludwig as the Academy’s Protector. The Academy was assigned to take charge of research matters related to different fields of science: philology (mainly Polish and other Slavic languages); history of literature; history of art; philosophical; political and legal sciences; history and archaeology; mathematical sciences, life sciences, Earth sciences and medical sciences. In order to make it possible for the Academy to manage so many research topics, it was divided into three classes: a philological class, a historico‑philosophical class, and a class for mathematics and natural sciences. Each class was allowed to establish its own commissions dealing with different branches of science. The first members of the Academy were chosen from among the members of the Krakow Learned Society. It was a 12‑person group including only local members, approved by the Emperor. It was also them who elected the first President of the Academy, Jozef Majer, and the Secretary General, Jozef Szujski, from this group. By the end of 1872, the organization of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow was completed. It had its administration, management and three classes that were managed by the respective directors and secretaries. It also had three commissions, taken over from the Krakow Learned Society, namely: the Physiographic Commission, the Bibliographic Commission and the Linguistic Commission. At that time, the Academy had only a total of 24 active members who had the right to elect non‑ resident and foreign members. Each election had to be approved by the Emperor. The first public plenary session of the Academy was held in May 1873. After the speeches had been delivered, a list of candidates for new members of the Academy was read out. There were five people on the list, three of which were Czech: Josef Jireček, František Palacky and Karl Rokitansky. The second on the list was – since February 18, 1860 – a correspondent member of the Krakow Learned Society, already dissolved at the time. They were approved by the Emperor Franz Joseph in his rescript of July 7, 1873. Josef Jireček (1825–1888) became a member of the Philological Class. He was an expert on Czech literature, an ethnographer and a historian. František Palacky (1798–1876) became a member of the Historico‑Philosophical Class. The third person from this group, Karl Rokitansky (1804–1878), became a member of the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The mere fact that the first foreigners were elected as members of the Academy was a perfect example of the criteria according to which the Academy selected its active members. From among the humanists, it accepted those researchers whose research had been linked to Polish matters and issues. That is why until the end of World War I, the Czech representatives of social sciences were the biggest group among the foreign members of the Academy. As for the members of the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the Academy invited scientists enjoying exceptional recognition in the world. These criteria were binding throughout the following years. The Academy elected two other humanists as its members during the session held on October 31, 1877 and these were Vaclav Svatopluk Štulc (1814–1887) and Antonin Randa (1834–1914). Vaclav Svatopluk Štulc became a member of the Philological Class and Antonin Randa became a member of the Historico‑Philosophical Class. The next Czech scholar who became a member of the Academy of Arts and Scientists in Krakow was Vaclav Vladivoj Tomek (1818–1905). It was the Historico‑Philosophical Class that elected him, which happened on May 2, 1881. On May 14, 1888, the Krakow Academy again elected a Czech scholar as its active member. This time it was Jan Gebauer (1838–1907), who was to replace Vaclav Štulc, who had died a few months earlier. Further Czech members of the Krakow Academy were elected at the session on December 4, 1899. This time it was again humanists who became the new members: Zikmund Winter (1846–1912), Emil Ott (1845–1924) and Jaroslav Goll (1846–1929). Two years later, on November 29, 1901, Jan Kvičala (1834–1908) and Jaromir Čelakovsky (1846–1914) were elected as members of the Krakow Academy. Kvičala became a member of the Philological Class and Čelakovsky – a corresponding member of the Historical‑Philosophical Class. The next member of the Krakow Academy was František Vejdovsky (1849–1939) elected by the Class for Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Six years later, a chemist, Bohuslav Brauner (1855–1935), became a member of the same Class. The last Czech scientists who had been elected as members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Krakow before the end of the World War I were two humanists: Karel Kadlec (1865–1928) and Vaclav Vondrak (1859–1925). The founding of the Czech Royal Academy of Sciences in Prague in 1890 strengthened the cooperation between Czech and Polish scientists and humanists.
The article shows the importance of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU) in building the prestige of the Polish state, reborn in 1918. It investigates primarily the first years of independence in which the Academy undertook actions aimed at gaining Polish science an international reputation. The scope and nature of the PAU’s cooperation with the authorities of the Republic of Poland – in particular with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – was analyzed. The article is based on source materials – both archival and published – and literature on the subject. The information contained in the sources and published works has been critically evaluated, taking into account the specificity of the analyzed material. Based on the statutory objectives of the PAU, various forms of the Academy’s work were presented, which were related to building the importance of Polish science abroad. Reference was made to the involvement of the PAU in the work of international scientific organizations – the Conseil International de Recherches and the Union Académique Internationale de Recherches et de Publications. The influence of Polish national culture (supported and developed by the PAU) on the prestige of the Second Republic of Poland in the international arena indicated that the PAU’s actions were necessary in view of the desire to strengthen the position of the Republic of Poland in the circle of scholars from other countries – after years of Polish scientific and cultural achievements being underestimated, marginalized and attributed to others. The importance of support for PAU’s activities by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was established, as well as the beneficial effects but also the dangers related to the entry of politics into the field of science.
PL
W artykule ukazano znaczenie Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności w budowaniu prestiżu odrodzonego w 1918 roku państwa polskiego. Artykuł dotyczy w głównej mierze pierwszych lat niepodległości, w których Akademia podjęła się działań, mających na celu zyskanie nauce polskiej międzynarodowej renomy. Operacjonalizując problem analizowano zakres i charakter współpracy PAU z władzami RP – w szczególności z Ministerstwem Spraw Zagranicznych. Artykuł powstał w oparciu o materiały źródłowe – zarówno archiwalne, jak publikowane – oraz literaturę przedmiotu. Informacje zawarte w źródłach i opublikowanych pracach poddano krytycznej ocenie – uwzględniającej specyfikę analizowanego materiału. W oparciu o statutowe cele PAU, przedstawiono różne formy prac Akademii, z jakimi wiązano budowę znaczenia nauki polskiej poza granicami kraju. Odwołano się do zaangażowania PAU w prace międzynarodowych organizacji naukowych – Conseil International de Recherches oraz Union Académique Internationale de Recherches et de Publications. Wpływ polskiej kultury narodowej (wspieranej i rozwijanej przez PAU) na prestiż II RP na arenie międzynarodowej, wskazywał, że działania PAU były konieczne wobec pragnienia ugruntowania pozycji Rzeczypospolitej w środowisku uczonych z innych państw – po latach niedoceniania, marginalizowania i przypisywania innym polskiego dorobku naukowego i kulturalnego. Ustalono znaczenie wsparcia działań PAU przez MSZ, korzystne efekty, ale i zagrożenia związane z wejściem polityki na grunt nauki.
The State Zoological Museum, established in 1928, inherited and developed the legacy of the Zoological Cabinet of the University of Warsaw (existing since 1818). The Cabinet’s collection had been gathered for decades and belonged to eminent personages not only in Poland but also in Europe. The Museum and its collections were threatened many times: first by a great fire in 1935, then by the German attack on Warsaw in 1939 and subsequent occupation, as well as by the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising and the destruction of the city. After the post-war reconstruction of the Museum, it was time to function in a new political reality, in which the most significant change for this institution was the establishment of the Polish Academy of Sciences. A planned inclusion of the State Zoological Museum in the structures of the newly-founded Polish Academy of Sciences meant that the scientists had to face a dilemma: in exchange for research funds and career development opportunities, they were expected to show favour to the communists and readiness to implement the idea of socialism. In the background of this process, numerous scientific conferences took place, where controversial visions of the future of biological sciences clashed. This process resulted in the transformation of the State Zoological Museum into the Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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