| dc.description.abstract | Ryszard Ergetowski (3.04.1925–18.04.2005) was a university professor, a specialist in history
of science and bibliology, an expert on the 19th century Polish-German scientific contacts
and a researcher of the German Slavic studies of that period.
After years of hard work, in spite of many painful experiences of the German occupation
and the communist period, persecuted for constant refusal to join PZPR (the Polish United
Workers’ Party), he managed to achieve his educational goals and reached the top of academic
career. In 1970–1986 he worked in the PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences) Institute of History
of Science and Technology in Wrocław; in 1981 he became the director of the Institute. In 1986
he began working in the Chair of Scientific Information and Library Science of Pedagogical
University in Cracow. As a professor, he conducted classes in the history of science and the
scientific research methodology, as well as gave monographic lectures. Being an active researcher,
he wrote over 350 papers in Polish, German, Czech, and French (monographs, dissertations,
studies, as well as reviews, reports, popular science articles and literary essays). He used
to base his works on direct materials, found in queries in archives and libraries in Germany,
the Czech Republic and Poland. The comparison method used in these works, elaborated by the
Professor throughout years of scientific research, enabled introduction of many new significant
aspects into the history of Polish and German science. In his scientific work Ryszard Ergetowski
devoted a lot of attention to scientific and librarian activity of Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie.
On the basis of rich epistolary material, collected over many years, Ergetowski wrote numerous
works on the subject (Roczniki Biblioteczne 1964, 1967, Biuletyn Biblioteki Jagiellońskiej
1970, 1978, 1987, Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki 1985; collective works: K dějinam
česko-slovensko-polských vědeckých styků, Praha 1989 and Joachim Lelewel – księgoznawca,
bibliotekarz, bibliograf, Warszawa 1993)
He also published a number of papers on the history of books and the history of Polish
book collections abroad (Roczniki Biblioteczne 1970, 1978, 1987, 1994–1995). As a top-class
scientist, he cooperated with many scientific institutions, e.g. Komisja Nauk Pedagogicznych
PAN (PAN Committee on Pedagogical Sciences) in Cracow, Komitet Historii Nauki i Techniki
PAN (PAN Committee on History of Science and Technology), Centralny Ośrodek Metodyczny
Studiów Nauczycielskich (Methodological Centre for Pedagogical Studies), the Institute
of Scientific Information and Library Science of the University of Wrocław, the Ossolińskis
National Institute Library, Kleist-Gedenk und Forschungsstätte (Frankfurt an der Oder), Deutsches
Polen Institut (Darmstat), Societas Jablonoviana (Leipzig), Berlin Academy of Sciences
and Humanities, Slavisches Seminar (Freiburg), Seminar für Osteuropäische Geschichte
(Heidelberg), Österreichisches Ost- und Südeuropa Institut (Vienna).
For his achievements in the scientific field, in 1972 Ryszard Ergetowski was awarded the
J.E. Purkyně Medal by the Czech-Polish Society of History of Medicine, in 1984 he received
the Societas Jablonoviana Medal of the Karl-Marx University in Leipzig, and in 1988 he was
awarded the Golden Cross of Merit. | en_EN |
