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“A Bench with History” – summary of the project

Photo of the one of the benches with history

We invite to visit our Central Campus and and know our patrons, photo: Office for Promotion and Information

All benches located by the fountain on our Central Campus have been assigned a patron. Thus, we have completed a three-year project, implemented under the “The Independent” (“Niepodległa”) Programme.

The project was the responsibility of the WUT Office for Promotion and Information, in close cooperation with Professor Mirosław Nader, Ph.D., D.Sc., Eng., who served as Rector’s Proxy for WUT Legacy in the years 2016-2020. 

“A Bench with History” 2020

  • Joanna Chmielewska — the pen name of Irena Kuhn (1932–2013) — writer, author of sensational and crime novels and books for children and teenagers, including “Lesio”, “Klin” (“The Wedge”) and “Nawiedzony dom” (“The Haunted House”). She worked, among others, in the Independent Architectural and Construction Studio “Blok”, in Energoprojekt, and the “Stolica” (“The Capital”) Design Office. She also took part in the construction of Dom Chłopa (literally “The Peasant’s House”). Graduate of the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Stefan Kuryłowicz (1949–2011) — architect, author of designs for commercial, office, industrial, residential buildings and housing estates, including the Warsaw Underground station — Dworzec Gdański (Gdańsk Train Station), the gated community Marina Mokotów, LOT Polish Airlines office buildings, Prosta Tower, the Wola Center office complex, and Białystok City Stadium. Graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Maciej Władysław Grabski (1934–2016) — co-founder of materials engineering in Poland. The author of numerous works in the field of materials science, mainly on the crystallographic defects and their influence on metal properties. Correspondent member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), member of the State Committee for Scientific Research and the Group on Ethics in Science at the Ministry of Science. Long-term President of the Foundation For Polish Science. Professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, awarded honorary doctorates of the WUT and AGH University of Science and Technology.
  • Andrzej Pszenicki (1869–1941) — Polish construction engineer and constructor. Author of bridges and other steel structures in Russia, Estonia and Poland, including the Palace Bridge in Saint Petersburg, the Warsaw Central railway station, and the rail-road bridge in Płock. Author of highly regarded textbooks. Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Rector and Vice-Rector of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Jan Podoski (1904–1998) – specialist in the field of electric tractions, meritorious for the electrification of public transport in Warsaw. Initiator of the construction of the Warsaw underground. UN expert. Combatant in World War II. Graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, awarded an honorary doctorate of the WUT.
  • Jerzy Sołtan (1913–2005) — architect and theoretician of architecture, associate of Le Corbusier. Co-designer of the “Warszawianka” sports complex, the interior of the Warszawa Śródmieście railway station and the Polish Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair. Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Harvard University, graduate and holder of an honorary doctorate of the Warsaw University of Technology.

“A Bench with History” 2019

  • Jan Zachwatowicz (1900–1983) — architect, architectural historian, general restorer of monuments (1945–1957), co-initiator and co-author of the reconstruction of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Professor of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Jan Rodowicz, alias “Anoda” (1923–1949) — scout, soldier of the Grey Ranks and the Home Army, hero of the fight for a free Poland, participant of the Warsaw Uprising. Student of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Karol Pollak (1859–1928) — electrotechnician, inventor and entrepreneur, pioneer of the world battery industry, called “the Polish Edison”. First person to be awarded an honorary doctorate of the Warsaw University of Technology (1924).
  • Andrzej Makowski (1931–2013) — surveyor and cartographer, specialist in cartography, systemic mapping and map publishing as well as colour theory. Graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, co-organizer of Printing Studies at the WUT.
  • Felicjan Piątkowski (1908–2004) surveyor, cartographer and printing expert, co-author of more than a dozen topographic and economic maps of the post-war Poland. Graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, founder of Printing Studies at the WUT.
  • Tadeusz Zawadzki, alias “Zośka” (1921–1943) — scoutmaster, Home Army second lieutenant, commander of the Assault Groups, one of the protagonists of the “Kamienie na szaniec” (“Stones for the Rampart”) novel. During World War II, a student of the secret Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Stanisław Wigura (1901–1932) — constructor, engineer and aviator, co-founder of the RWD construction team. Along with Franciszek Żwirka, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932 — the International Tourist Plane Competition. Graduate and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Jerzy Drzewiecki (1902–1990) — engineer, constructor, and pilot, co-founder of the RWD construction team. Designer of the JD-2 — the first sports plane constructed in Poland after World War I. Graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Stanisław Rogalski (1904–1976) — engineer and constructor, co-founder of the RWD construction team, long-term employee of American aviation companies, NASA associate (lunar vehicle project). Graduate and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Oskar Hansen (1922–2005) and Zofia Garlińska-Hansen (1924–2013) — architects, authors of the Open Form theory and the concept of the Linear Continuous System. Main projects: Rakowiec and Przyczółek Grochowski (Warsaw) as well as the Juliusz Słowacki housing estate (Lublin). Graduates of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Halina Skibniewska (1921–2011) — architect and urban planner, three-time winner of the “Mister Warszawy” (“Master of Warsaw”) award. Main projects: Sady Żoliborskie and Osiedle Szwoleżerów (Warsaw). Graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology.

“A Bench with History” 2018

  • Stanisław Staszic (1755–1826) — writer and philosopher, president of the Society of Friends of Learning, Chairman of the Polytechnic Council, initiator of the Preparatory School for the Polytechnic Institute and co-creator of its curriculum, Minister of State of the Kingdom of Poland, founder of the Staszic Palace, monuments to Copernicus and Prince Józef Poniatowski, and the Institute for the Deaf.
  • Kajetan Garbiński (1796–1847) — mathematician, teacher and lecturer, first headmaster of the Preparatory School for the Polytechnic Institute.
  • Zygmunt Straszewicz (1860–1927) — professor of mathematics and mechanics, co-organizer of the Brotherly Help (Bratnia Pomoc) students’ mutual aid organization and the Electrical Engineering Research Group, first rector of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934) — pioneer of research on radioactivity, discoverer of radium and polonium, two-time Nobel Prize winner, awarded an honorary doctorate of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Ignacy Mościcki (1867–1946) — chemist, electrician, inventor, builder of the Polish chemical industry, professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, President of Poland, awarded two honorary doctorates of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Jan Czochralski (1885–1953) — chemist, metallurgist, discoverer of the method of obtaining monocrystals named after him, which forms the basis of the semiconductor industry, professor of the Warsaw University of Technology, awarded an honorary doctorate of the WUT.
  • Kazimierz Drewnowski (1881–1952) — a pioneer of Polish electrical engineering, legionary, colonel, founder of the interwar signal troops, organizer of secret teaching, professor and rector of the Warsaw University of Technology, prisoner of Dachau.
  • Janusz Groszkowski (1898–1984) — electronic engineer and radio technician, pioneer of radioelectronics, graduate and professor of the Warsaw University of Technology; he decoded the V-2 rocket control system; President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, awarded an honorary doctorate of the WUT.
  • Józef Zawadzki (1886–1951) — technologist and physical chemist, first assistant professor (doktor habilitowany) at the Warsaw University of Technology, professor and rector of the Warsaw University of Technology, awarded an honorary doctorate of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Mieczysław Bekker (1905–1989) — an engineer and scientist, graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology, “father” of terramechanics, designer of the first lunar vehicle.
  • Stefan Bryła (1886–1943) — construction engineer, constructor of e.g. Europe’s first welded bridge, the National Museum and the Museum of Polish Army, the student dormitory at Plac Narutowicza (Narutowicz Square), professor and dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, assassinated in a street execution.
  • Mieczysław Wolfke (1883–1947) — physicist, until 1922 lecturer at the ETH and the University of Zurich, forerunner of holography, discoverer of liquid phases of helium, since 1922 professor of the Warsaw University of Technology.
  • Szczepan Szczeniowski (1898–1979) — author of highly regarded physics textbooks, meritorious for the development of physics in Poland, co-founder and first director of the Institute of Physics of the Warsaw University of Technology, from which the Faculty of Physics emerged.