The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored national academy of sciences and institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars and a network of research institutes.
It was established in 1951, during the early period of the Polish People's Republic following World War II.
History The Polish Academy of Sciences was established by the merger of earlier science societies, including the Polish Academy of Learning (Polska Akademia Umiejętności, abbreviated PAU), with its seat in Kraków, and the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning (Science), which had been founded in the late 18th century.
The Polish Academy of Sciences functions as a learned society acting through an elected assembly of leading scholars and research institutions. The Academy has also, operating through its committees, become a major scientific advisory body.
Another aspect of the Academy is its coordination and overseeing of numerous (several dozen) research institutes. PAN institutes employ over 2,000 people and are funded by about a third of the Polish government's budget for science.Ustawa z dnia 30 kwietnia 2010 r. o Polskiej Akademii Nauk.
Leadership The Polish Academy of Sciences is led by a President, elected by the assembly of Academy members for a four-year term, together with a number of Vice Presidents.
The President for the 2019–2022 term was Jerzy Duszyński (his second term in the post), together with five Vice Presidents: Stanisław Czuczwar, Stanisław Filipowicz, Paweł Rowiński, Roman Słowiński, and Romuald Zabielski.
On 20 October 2022, General Assembly of the Polish Academy of Sciences elected Marek Konarzewski to become the new President of the Academy for the 2023–2026 term. On 8 December 2022, another session of General Assembly of the Academy elected four Vice Presidents at the recommendation of the President Elect; as such Mirosława Ostrowska, Natalia Sobczak, and Dariusz Jemielniak, and Aleksander Welfe were elected as Vice Presidents of the Academy for the 2023–2026 term.
All the Presidents of the Polish Academy of Sciences to date, by term, are as follows:
+ Presidents of the Polish Academy of Sciences Term President 1952–1956 Jan Bohdan Dembowski 1957–1962 Tadeusz Kotarbiński 1962–1971 Janusz Groszkowski 1971–1977 Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski 1977–1980 Witold Nowacki 1980–1983 Aleksander Gieysztor 1984–1990 Jan Karol Kostrzewski 1990–1992 Aleksander Gieysztor 1993–1998 Leszek Kuźnicki 1999–2001 Mirosław Mossakowski 2002–2003 Jerzy Kołodziejczak 2003–2006 Andrzej Legocki 2007–2014 Michał Kleiber 2015–2018 Jerzy Duszyński 2019–2022 Jerzy Duszyński 2023–2026 Marek Konarzewski
Institutes
The Polish Academy of Sciences has numerous institutes, including: Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies - established in 1972 in Łódź. Bohdan Dobrzański Institute of Agrophysics Museum and Institute of Zoology Kielanowski Institute of Animal Physiology and Nutrition Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences - established, 1954, became an independent institute in 1974; publishes the journal Pharmacological Reports. Institute of Psychology International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines, Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Slavic Studies
Institute of High Pressure Physics Institute of Hydro-Engineering Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center
Institute of Physical Chemistry Department of Turbine Dynamics and Diagnostics of the Institute of Fluid-flow Machinery of the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Economics of the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Notable members
+ Notable members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Name Field Bogdan Baranowski Chemist Franciszek Bujak Historian Carsten Carlberg Biochemist Tomasz Dietl Physicist Aleksandra Dunin-Wąsowicz Archaeologist Zofia Hilczer-Kurnatowska Archaeologist Maria Janion Scholar, critic and theoretician of literature Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska Paleontologist Franciszek Kokot Nephrologist Stanisław Konturek Physician Leszek Kołakowski Philosopher Bożena Kostek Computer scientist and audio engineer Roman Kozłowski Paleontologist Jacek Leociak Literary scholar Wanda Leopold Author, translator and literary critic Mieczysław Mąkosza Chemist Zenon Mariak Neurosurgeon and professor Zenon Mróz Engineer Karol Myśliwiec Archaeologist Witold Nowacki Mathematician; president of the Academy (1977–1980) Czesław Olech Mathematician Janina Oszast Palaeobotanist Bohdan Paczyński Astrophysicist Krystian Pilarczyk Hydraulic engineer Włodzimierz Ptak Immunologist Danuta Ptaszycka-Jackowska Geographer and landscape architect Andrzej Rottermund Art historian and museologist; director of the Royal Castle in Warsaw (1991–2015) Marianna Sankiewicz-Budzyńska Electronics engineer and academic Andrzej Schinzel Mathematician Jan Strelau Psychologist Zofia Sulgostowska Archaeologist Piotr Sztompka SociologistMichał Strzelecki Electrical Engineer Joanna Tokarska-Bakir Anthropologist and religious studies scholar Andrzej Trautman Physicist Andrzej Udalski Astrophysicist and astronomer Jerzy Vetulani Pharmacologist and neuroscientist Jan Woleński Philosopher Aleksander Wolszczan Astronomer Bernard Zabłocki Microbiologist and immunologist Stanisław Zagaja Pomologist, professor and director of the Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture
Foreign members
Victor Ambros, American-Polish developmental biologist Aage Bohr, physicist Aaron Ciechanover, biologist Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, cell biologist Joseph H. Eberly, physicist Erol Gelenbe, computer scientist and engineer Martin Hairer, mathematician Jack K. Hale, mathematician Stephen T. Holgate, immunopharmacologist (2001) Ernst Håkon Jahr, linguist Marta Kwiatkowska, computer scientist Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Polish chemist working at Carnegie Mellon University Robert K. Merton, sociologist Karl Alexander Müller, physicist Roger Penrose, mathematician Carlo Rubbia, physicist Peter M. Simons, philosopher Boleslaw Szymanski, computer scientist Chen Ning Yang, physicist George Zarnecki, art historian
Periodicals
Acta Arithmetica Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia Acta Ornithologica Acta Palaeontologica Polonica Acta Physica Polonica Annales Polonici Mathematici Annales Zoologici Archaeologia Polona Archives of Acoustics Fundamenta Mathematicae
See also Academy of Sciences French Academy of Sciences Polish Academy of Learning (headquartered in Kraków) Poznań Society of Friends of Learning Royal Society Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning
References
External links
PAN website (click on British flag icon for English-language content)