Nobel Prize, Earl and Professor | Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Gdańsk University of Technology

Who was Stanisław Błaszkowiak?

Pioneer of the Gdańsk University of Technology professor Stanisław Błaszkowiak was born on November 10, 1893 in Radzew (Śrem County, Poznań Voivodeship). In the years 1900-13 he studied at the folk school in Bnin and at the junior high school in Śrem. From November 8, 1913 to May 26, 1916, he studied at the Faculty of Construction Engineering of the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg. After obtaining a half-diploma, he was called up to serve in the German army, from April 10, 1919 to August 16, 1919, he served in the Polish Army. On August 16, 1919, he was employed in the construction of the Strzałów-Kutno and Kokoszki-Gdynia railways as the manager of the Society for Engineering Works. From November 1, 1921, he continued his interrupted studies at the Gdansk University of Technology, where on March 21, 1925, he obtained a diploma in road and bridge engineering. Already as a student, from June 20, 1923 to June 31, 1925, he was a contract employee of the Polish State Railways in Gdansk. Then, working full-time, on June 28, 1929, he was promoted to the position of head of the Track Substructure and Bridges Department in the Road Department of the Railway Directorate in Gdańsk, from where he was transferred to Toruń, where for his work he was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit in 1937. On January 1, 1938, he was transferred to Poznań, where, after the outbreak of the war, he was evacuated together with the management to Warsaw.

After the capitulation, he returned to Poznań, from where on December 9, 1939, the Germans deported him to Częstochowa. Here he took up the position of bookkeeper in the "Ziegler and Silberger" stockings factory. Then he moved to Kraków, where from December 27, 1940 he was employed at Ostbahn. While performing static calculations for companies, he was also preparing his doctoral thesis. On October 1, 1944, he was furloughed. After liberation, on January 25, 1945, he started working at the PKP in Kraków, from where he moved to the Bridge Department of the Railway Directorate in Poznań on February 15, 1945. Here, from April 1, 1945, he taught statics at the Road High School, and from April 1946 to October 1, 1946, at the Engineering School.

On October 1, 1946, he took up the position of professor at the Department of Bridge Construction at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Gdańsk University of Technology. From May 1, 1947 to August 31, 1949, he also worked as an official of the District Directorate of the State Railways in Gdańsk. On June 26, 1947, he received the degree of doctor of technical sciences at the GUT after defending his thesis entitled "Contributions to H. Cross's method". On July 26, 1949, he was appointed prof. Professor was appointed extraordinary professor at the Department of Bridge Theory and Construction of Steel Bridges at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the GUT on July 13, 1960. ordinary. In December 1952, the Department of Bridge Theory and Construction was divided into the Department of Steel Bridges and the Department of Reinforced Concrete Bridges. The professor took over the management of the Department of Steel Bridges.

Taking into account the economic needs of the country, he organized an elasto-optical laboratory and a mobile laboratory for field research in the Department he headed. Thanks to the organization of a mobile laboratory and the possibility of conducting on-site model tests, the Department was able to carry out tests of new and old bridges on behalf of companies. By 1964, it had carried out 34 tests of large bridges, and the experience gained was used in tests of slipways and ship hulls for the maritime economy. The efficient organization of the Department's 7-person team, composed of talented collaborators, made it possible to carry out such responsible tasks, which was the indisputable merit of the manager.

He retired on September 30, 1964. On October 1, 1957, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, and in 1961 he received the Award. Feliks Jasiński for his works on successive approximation (iterative) methods. His most important publication entitled "The Cross Method" was published three times by the National Scientific Publishing House, in 1959, 1961 and 1963.

He died on November 9, 1975 in Gdańsk. He was buried in Kórnik.

Professor Stanisław Błaszkowiak