Professor Tadeusz Estreicher (1871–1952), chemist, cryogenic scientist, historian of science, art lover, humanist, translator and patriot

Abstract

The chemist Tadeusz Estreicher was a student of professor Karol Olszewski. He was mainly involved in cryogenics, but his activities also covered many other fields of science, culture and art. He also devoted his time to social activities, especially during his stay and work at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

After regaining independence by his motherland, professor Tadeusz Estreicher returned to the country and began organizational and scientific work. He was associated with the Faculty of Philosophy (Department of Chemistry), the Pharmaceutical Department of the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków.

In 1939 he was arrested during the Sonderaktion Krakau and stayed in the Sachsenhausen camp. After returning to Kraków, he took part in secret university teaching, and after the war he returned to work in the Collegium Chemicum of the Jagiellonian University.

When he passed away, John Read wrote in an obituary in Nature: “This remarkable man of science might well have taken for his motto: Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.”

The aim of the paper is to remind the achievements of Tadeusz Estreicher and supplement his biography with new threads concerning his interests in art and contacts with the artistic community of Kraków.