Biography of Henryk Arctowski
“Henryk Arctowski. In a World of Thoughts“
Authors: Dagmara Bożek, Katarzyna Dąbkowska
Publisher: BOSZ
Planned release date: June 2024
Why Henryk Arctowski?
- This is the first book about the life of Henryk Arctowski (1871-1958), which is not a collection of scientific and conference publications, but a colorful story about reconstructing biography of a man on the basis of what no one knew about him before. With this book we invite you to travel together with Henryk Arctowski through eras, continents, 19th and 20th centuries. On the basis of found materials, we create a book full of photos, unknown letters, fragments of newspapers, maps, but also our own, contemporary photographs, which we take while searching for traces of Henryk Arctowski.
- Our goal is to remember the figure of a remarkable scientist, polar explorer, lecturer, patriot and tell the story of his life through the prism of fascinating events that happened during his lifetime. Henryk Arctowski’s long life allowed him to witness the creation of the cinematograph, the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the library in New York, the Mount Wilson Astronomical Observatory in the USA. Also in Poland Henryk Arctowski was a pioneer and initiator, for example, of the Lviv Aeroclub, the construction of a meteorological observatory on Kasprowy Wierch… Henryk Arctowski had three loves in his life, which we list in order not coincidentally: Science, Poland, Wife Jane. He believed that progress is possible only through truth, and this truth was brought by science. We may say that Henryk Arctowski was first and foremost a pacifist and idealist who remained true to his values to the end.
- For his merits (and dreams of Polish participation in polar research), Henryk Arctowski was honored in a special way: the Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island in West Antarctica is named after him, as is the Navy’s ORP Arctowski hydrographic ship, which has a history of participating in polar cruises.
- Henryk Arctowski was a world-renowned scientist—he lived and worked in France, Belgium, Great Britain and the United States. He is one of those figures who promoted Polish science abroad.
Biography of Henryk Arctowski—interesting facts
- NUMBERS: 10 chapters, 4 years of work, over 400 pages,
- INSTITUTIONS, WHERE SOME OF THE MATERIALS COME FROM: New York Library (USA), Smithsonian Institution (USA), Central Archives of Historical Records (Poland), Museum of the Earth, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (Poland), Hydrographic Office of the Polish Navy (Poland), branch of Bydgoszcz State Archive in Inowrocław (Poland),
- UNIQUE MATERIALS: graphological expert reports of Henryk Arctowski’s handwriting, fragments of Henryk Arctowski’s memoirs of the Belgica Expedition published in Polish for the first time, partially reconstructed family tree of Henryk Arctowski’s family, previously unpublished photos from various periods of Henryk Arctowski’s life courtesy of living relatives.
Are you interested in a book release date?
Please contact us!