The President’s Choice= Science or Politics?

IGNACY MOŚCICKI President Ignacy Mościcki was born on December 1, 1867 in Mierzanów. He studied chemistry at the University of Riga. In 1892, due to threats from the tsarist police, he left for London. Four years later, he was appointed assistant professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He developed an original method of obtaining nitrogen oxide from the air, leading to the production of nitrogen compounds and ultimately the production of explosives. His research on nitrogen, however, was only one of the early achievements of engineer Mościcki. His most important inventions include high-voltage capacitors (first installed at the Eiffel Tower) and devices that protect electrical networks against lightning. […]

The enlightened Pope and “the Alchemist of Lwow”

POPE PIUS XI On May15, 1931, Pope Pius XI published his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno to commemorate the 40 years since Pope Leon XIII published his Encyclical Rerum Novarum on the condition of workers in 1891. Before the publication of his encyclical, Pius XI invited Marian Wielezynski to the Vatican to explain his vision of employee shareholding summarized here in Wielezynski’s own words:  “The management principles of Gazolina joint stock company are that justice and a sense of duty must prevail over our company, and the will to help each other must also prevail…” In paragraph 110 of Quadragesimo Anno, Pius XI echoed Marian Wielezynski’s philosophy: “The twofold character, that is […]

MY FATHER’S GODFATHER

JOZEF KLEMENS PILSUDSKI In 1914, Jóseph Piłsudski declared: “Only the sword now carries any weight in the balance for the destiny of a nation.”  As I was growing up, my father loved to tell stories about his heroes. This is what he told me when I was at the university in France: “After Tadeusz Kościuszko raised a Polish army and tried but failed to give Poland its sovereignty, it took another 123 years before Piłsudski, inspired by his courage, grabbed Kościuszko’s sword and gave Poland her Freedom and Independence once more.”   Józef Piłsudski was born in Zalavas, Lithuania on December 5, 1867, but his family always considered themselves Polish. In […]