Professor Swietlana Białłozór has died | Faculty of Chemistry at the Gdańsk University of Technology

Professor Swietlana Białłozór was born on 28 June 1932 in Vilnius, which she had to leave after the war. She continued her education in Gorzów, where she graduated from high school in 1951. In the same year, she began her studies at the Faculty of Chemistry of Gdańsk University of Technology, graduating with a master's degree in engineering on 27 May 1956. After graduation, she was employed at the Department of Mineralogy and Petrography (1956-1958). She obtained her doctoral degree on 27 May 1963, and her doctoral thesis supervisor was Professor Tadeusz Pompowski. She obtained her postdoctoral degree in 1973, and the title of professor on 21 September 1996. In the years 1953-1974, Swietlana Białłozór worked at the Department of Physical Chemistry. Since 1980 she was employed at the Department of Anti-Corrosion Protection Technology at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology of the Faculty of Chemistry of Gdańsk University of Technology. Later she worked at the Department of General Chemistry and since 1998 at the Department of Chemical Technology. Subsequent administrative changes in the units employing her did not affect her main scientific interests. From the beginning, i.e. since her doctorate, her main research area was phenomena at the interface between the electrode and the liquid electrolyte. She dealt with them with passion and against the prevailing economic conditions. She was the first researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry to focus her interests on electrode phenomena in non-aqueous environments. Studies of the electrocrystallization processes of metals, whose electrode layers cannot be obtained by electrolysis from aqueous solutions of their salts, yielded a number of results of scientific and practical importance. On the other hand, electrocrystallization from aqueous electrolytes, as a result of which layers with controlled magnetic parameters can be obtained, is yet another area of research conducted by Professor Swietlana Białłozor. She searched for the relationship between the physicochemical properties of metals and the kinetics of electrodeposition processes. In the years 1996-2002, the Professor was the first at the Faculty of Chemistry to deal with synthetic metals – electroactive polymers. She was fascinated by the creation of not only useful but also beautiful forms of newly electrochemically produced solid phase. Several decades ago, microscopic techniques required the manual development of images obtained from a scanning electron microscope. Here, she supported her professional interests with the passion of an amateur filmmaker.

In 2014, she was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of Gdańsk University of Technology. As a result, she was entered into the Golden Book of Gdańsk University of Technology.

The issues undertaken years ago by Professor Swietlana Białłozor are continued by employees of the Faculty of Chemistry. Her students include Professor Anna Lisowska-Oleksiak and Marek Lieder, PhD, DSc, Eng.

Undoubtedly, the Professor's great passion was cats, which she took care of at home, in the Old Town of Gdańsk and at the university.

She died on 2 June in her home. She was buried in the Orthodox rite at the Srebrzysko cemetery on 6 June 2024.

We are saying goodbye to a righteous person with a huge heart and great kindness.