Karol Olszewski

Karol Olszewski was a Polish chemist, mathematician and physicist who was a pioneer of cryogenics. He studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Heidelberg University. He became an associate professor and later a full professor at the Jagiellonian University, where he led the departments of general chemistry and inorganic chemistry. He collaborated with Zygmunt Wróblewski, another Polish scientist, and together they were the first in the world to liquefy oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a stable state in 1883. They also determined the critical values of these gases and liquefied and solidified carbon dioxide and methanol. Olszewski was the first to liquefy hydrogen in a dynamic state in 1884, achieving a record low temperature of -225°C. He also liquefied argon in 1895. He was the first Polish scientist to produce X-ray photographs, only a few days after Wilhelm Röntgen announced his discovery of X-rays in 1896. He was a member of several scientific societies and academies, both in Poland and abroad, and received many honors and awards for his achievements. He died in 1915 in Kraków and was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery. In 2018, his ashes were transferred to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków, one of Poland's national pantheons.