Date added: 2022-07-26
Prof. Janusz Rachoń, an honorary member of Gdańsk Scientific Society
Prof. Janusz Rachoń graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at Gdańsk University of Technology in 1969. He also obtained a doctoral title and a title of a doctor of science and was awarded a professor title by president Lech Wałęsa.
Prof. Janusz Rachoń established a school of organophosphorus chemistry. His doctoral students are now professors in Gdańsk, Lublin, Katowice and work in the pharmaceutical industry in Poland and abroad. In addition to being successful in basic research, he is also successful in technology transfer. He is, inter alia, the creator of the original technology for the production of hydroxy bisphosphonates, biologically active substances used in treatment of osteoporosis, and the author of the modern osteoporosis therapy drug "Ostemax 70 comfort" on the Polish market.
He worked at the University of Göttingen as the holder of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation scholarship and as visiting professor at Florida State University; Tallahassee (USA) and Waterloo University (Canada). Moreover, he lectured in France, Italy, Sweden and West Germany. He is a laureate of the Economic Award of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Prime Minister, and the Johannes Hevelius Scientific Award of the City of Gdańsk. He was awarded the Medal of Ignacy Mościcki by the Polish Chemical Society, with the honorary medal of Tadeusz Sendzimir by the Association of Polish Inventors and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
In the years 2002-2008, he was the rector of Gdańsk University of Technology. In his two terms of offce, many new invesments were implemented, land and real estate obtained and the Univeristy recorded very positive financial results, due to the introduced organizational and financial reforms. Moreover, the professor held the position of a senator of the 7th term Senate.
Currrently, Prof. Janusz Rachoń is the chairman of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and an Ombudsman for academic rights and values at Gdańsk University of Technology.
Collaboration with Gdańsk Scientific Society
The professor has collaborated with Gdańsk Scientific Society for many years. The idea of an annual conference "Golden Triangle: Science-Politics-Business" was born in 1999, on the initiative of Prof. Rachoń and Prof. Jan Drwal, acting the chairman of Gdańsk Scientific Society and Prof. Jerzy Błażejewski, the secretary of Gdańsk Scientific Society (who is currently the chairman). The first conference was held in 2000.
– Our intention was to show the potential of Pomeranian science. It was also about showing the possibility of using it in the region, in times of great socioeconomic changes. The addressees were, inter alia, local government and administrative authorities of the region, politicians and representatives of the economic life.
In total, 11 conferences were organized, which concerned various, socially important topics: e.g. technology transfer, tourism, education or sustainable development of the region.
-- Gdańsk Scientific Society, with its hundred-year history, represents the scientific community of the region. Its mission is to discuss issues important to society. The golden triangle conferences, which I co-organized, were a specific platform for the exchange of views, where they could meet and openly discuss the hermetic worlds of science, politics and business. What's more, based on the achievements of these conferences, it can be said that in the era of an extremely rapidly changing world, the scientific community has ceased to be just a witness of changes, and has become formally a participant - summarizes Prof. Janusz Rachoń.
100 years of Gdańsk Scientific Society
On July 11, 1922, the Society of Friends of Science and Art was founded in the Free City of Gdańsk. In the interwar period, the institution integrated the Gdańsk Polonia, and its activity was reactivated on July 22, 1945. In 1956, the center was transformed into Gdańsk Scientific Society.
Gdańsk Scientific Society held a science seminar to celebrate its centenary (May 26, 2022), but the main anniversary celebration will take place in the fall. On September 16, a gala and a concert will be held at the Baltic Philharmonic, while the 3rd Congress of Scientific Societies is planned for October 20 under the title: "The social dimension of the activities of scientific societies”.