Wiesław Wojnowski (1933-2024)
Head of Department of Inorganic Chemistry, 1989-2003
Curriculum vitae
He was born on March 7, 1933 in Toruń, where he had also graduated from the Technical Secondary School of Chemistry in 1952. He then took up studies at the Chemical Faculty of the Gdańsk University of Technology, which he graduated in 1957 as the Master of Science in Chemistry. In 1956, while still a student, he started working at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry as a junior, and later senior assistant. In 1962 he received his PhD in the Technical Sciences at the Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology based on the work: "Ethoxycresoxysilanes - study of the reaction of alcoholysis" performed under the supervision of prof. Włodzimierz Rodziewicz. Subsequently, he was promoted to the position of assistant professor. In 1971 he was habilitated on the basis of the dissertation: "Research on the reaction of alcoholysis of silicon disulphide", obtained the degree of dr hab. (DSc) of chemical sciences and was employed as an associate professor. He obtained the title of professor of chemical sciences in 1980 and was employed as such. In 1989 he obtained the title of full professor of chemical sciences and the position of full professor.
In the years 1969-2003 he managed a large scientific team of Chemistry and Technology of Organosilicon Compounds. He initiated and later sustained cooperation with numerous foreign scientists. In the years 1975-1976 he worked as a Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Wisconsin at Madison (USA), in the team of prof. Robert West (chemistry of polysilanes). In 1980, he lectured at the Chemical Faculty of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In 1981 he was a guest professor at the University of Göttingen, where he collaborated with prof. Anton Meller. For two years, 1983-1985, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, where he collaborated with prof. Hans-Georg von Schnering; it was a cooperation which resulted in numerous publications on X-ray structural analysis of organosilicon compounds. The cooperation with MPI lasted until 2003, resulting in a total of 31 joint publications. The long-lasting cooperation with the researchers from Aachen Technical University, prof. Welf Bronger and prof. Peter Paetzold, resulted in a long-term research stays of professor’s co-workers; three of them obtained doctorates under the co-supervision prof. Wojnowski and his German colleagues. Importantly, from 1981 onwards prof. Wojnowski maintained friendly contacts with prof. Wilhelm Klemm.
In the years 1969-1973 he was the deputy director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology of the GUT. From 1992 to 2003 he was the head of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the Gdańsk University of Technology. He was twice the deputy dean of the Faculty of Chemistry: in 1978-1981 and in 1987-1990.
He was also twice the chairman of the Gdańsk Branch of the Polish Chemical Society (1988-1990 and 1995-1997), and the chairman of its General Assembly in 1997. In 1999, he was awarded the Honorary Badge of Polish Chemical Society. He was the secretary of the Organizing Committee of the 16th Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, Sopot, 11-16.09.1966 and the secretary of the Organizing Committee of the XIVth FECHEM Conference on Organometallic Chemistry, Gdańsk in 2001.
From 1990 to 2005, he was a member of the Scientific Council of the Center for Molecular and Macromolecular Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź.
In the years 1994–2004 he was the editor of the series 'Chemistry' in 'Zeszyty Naukowe PG'
As Supervisor he promoted 19 PhD’s:
Barbara Becker (1978), Aleksander Herman (1978), Stanisław Konieczny (1978), Jerzy Pikies (1978), Erazm Felcyn (1979), Krystyna Kwiatkowska-Sienkiewicz (1979), Krystyna Przyjemska (1980), Heryk Masiakowski (1983), Jerzy Nowak (1984), Michał Jaczewski (1984), Bogusław Dręczewski (1986), Zbigniew Pawelec (1995), Krzysztof Wrzesień (1996), Krzysztof Radacki (2000), Łukasz Ponikiewski (2007), Elżbieta Jesionka (2007), Anna Ciborska (2009), Ksymena Liadis (2012), and Catherine Hurt (1976) with the co-supervision of prof. Robert West.
Three of them obtained the title of the full professor.
Research
The main area of research of prof. Wojnowski, for the entire period of his work at the GUT was the chemistry of organosilicon compounds, especially chemistry of new silicon-sulfur compounds – organoxythiosilicates. In 1961, he discovered a new class of silylsulfur compounds, alkoxysilanethiols produced in the reactions of alcohols with silicon disulphide *)**). It was a fundamental discovery that initiated the development of nearly 70 years of systematic research that continues to this day. A new field has arisen and is being developed: the CHEMISTRY OF ORGANOXYTHIOSILICATES, compounds containing an O-Si-S bond. To date, 22 PhDs and 8 postdoctoral degrees have arisen in this field. The results of research on the hydrolytic reaction of polycondensation of orthosilicic acid esters enabled the development of a new type of silicate binders, which were used in industrial applications for the production of high-zinc anti-corrosive paints and for the production of molds for precision castings in Polish foundries (Polish and foreign patents).
Polysilane chemistry, initiated in Madison in 1975 by examining the reaction mechanism for permethyl polysilane production, (4 publication with Robert West), was further developed in Gdańsk, and led to the obtaining of a,w-di-t-butoxy-thio-polysilanes. Owing to X-ray studies, the conformation of the Si-Si chain of polysilanes was determined for the first time.
His interest in Solid State Chemistry, especially X-ray examination of the structure of chemical compounds began in 1983, at the Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung in Stuttgart, in cooperation with prof. H. G. von Schnering. In the years 1995-1998, in the Department he headed, he founded the X-ray Laboratory of Structural Analysis of Monocrystals equipped with the best modern X-ray diffractometer thanks to the grants he obtained.
Scientific achievements
The list of prof. Wojnowski’s publications contains 152 scientific articles in journals from the JCR list and 30 articles in other peer-reviewed materials. He was granted 22 Polish and foreign patents. The scientific school created by prof. Wojnowski has a prominent and long-standing position in the chemistry of silicon-sulfur compounds, enjoying international recognition.
Professor Wojnowski is a laureate of numerous awards and distinctions. He received the Golden Cross of Merit in 1977. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1981, and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1999. Medal of the National Education Commission (1997), Gold Medal for Long Service (2008), Honorary Medal of the Polish Chemical Society (1999), Medal of the Chinese Chemical Society (1988). In 2017 he was awarded the Medal of prof. Włodzimierz Rodziewicz "for decades of outstanding didactic activity". In 2004 he was awarded the Medal of Merit for the Gdańsk University of Technology and in 2017 the Gold Medal of Merit for the Gdańsk University of Technology.
Personal life
Married. He has two children: sons Mirosław, born in 1975 and Wojciech, born in 1989. He is passionate about cactus cultivation (he is a founding member of the Polish Association of Cactus Enthusiasts), meteorites (he is a co-founding member of the Polish Meteorite Society), as well as the history of chemistry and classical and country music.
References
*) The research was made possible by the construction of a preparative-analytical gas chromatograph developed by prof. Wojnowski with the aid of Jan Grecki.
**) A study of Alcoholysis Reaction of Silicon Disulphide.I. Formation of Trialkoxysilanethiols from the Lower Primary and Secondary Aliphatic Alcohols. W. Wojnowski, R. Piękoś. Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 314 (1962) 189-197.; Untersuchungen über die Alkoholyse des SiS2. II. Darstellung von Trialkoxysilanthiolen und Tetraalkoxycyclodisilthianen aus den tertiären Alkoholen, R. Piękoś, W. Wojnowski, Z. anorg. allg. Chem. 318 (1962) 212-216.).
Author: Wiesław Wojnowski
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