On 25 November, President of Kraków Jacek Majchrowski hosted the City of Kraków Awards ceremony in the Stanisław Wyspiański Room of the Wielopolski House. Four out of six awarded people are professors of the Jagiellonian University.
The City of Kraków Awards are given to people with strong ties to Kraków for their extraordinary accomplishments and achievements. They are divided into three categories: culture and art, research and technology, and sport. In this year’s edition, there were four laureates from the Jagiellonian University:
- Culture and art
Prof. Aleksander B. Skotnicki for his contributions to Polish-Jewish dialogue - Research and technology
Prof. Krzysztof Królas and Prof. Marek Stankiewicz for their involvement in starting up the SOLARIS synchrotron
Prof. Janusz K. Kozłowski for his accomplishments in archaeology
The other two awards went to Grzegorz Turnau and Jerzy Illg. Six other people were also awarded for their MA theses.
‘Thank you for your invaluable contributions to Polish science and culture and the development of Kraków’, Jacek Majchrowski told the award winners. ‘The City of Kraków Awards are very unique in their nature. The history of the Awards form a kind of chronicle which features the most extraordinary accomplishments of the city’s greatest people’.
The City of Kraków Awards have a long-standing tradition. They were first awarded in 1933, but their roots can be traced back to the 16th century. The first person presented with an award for their accomplishments was Mikołaj Jaskier, who received it in 1535 for codifying the city’s laws and regulations.
Prof. Aleksander B. Skotnicki is a haematologist, transplantologist and internist. He is the Head of JU MC Chair in Haematology, Head of the University Hospital in Kraków’s Haematology Clinic and honorary member of the Polish Society of Haematology and Transfusiology. He has authored 285 scientific publications and numerous books and articles on genealogy and history of Kraków’s Jewish families. He is also the author of an extensive monograph on Jewish community in Poland entitled Społeczność żydowska w Polsce. Zwyczaje i udział w walce o niepodległość [Jewish community in Poland. Traditions and contributions to Polish independence].
Prof. Janusz K. Kozłowski is an archaeologist specialising in Palaeolithic and Neolithic. He has been a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University, University of Liège, University of Brussels, Ghent University, College de France, and Harvard University. He has received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bordeaux (1986) and Eötvös Loránd University (2015). He is also an Honorary Professor of the Jagiellonian University (2014). He has led numerous excavation teams at many archaeological sites in Europe (Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece, former Yugoslavia), the Middle East (Turkey, Egypt) and Central America. He is a member of various editorial teams, author, co-author or editor of 56 books published in many countries, and about 480 research papers.
Prof. Krzysztof Królas was a member of the JU academic staff since he finished his studies in physics in 1966 until his retirement in 2015. In 1993–1999, he was the Vice-Dean of JU Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, and in 1999–2002 – Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Financial Management.
Prof. Marek Stankiewicz received his MA and PhD at the Department of Nuclear Optics of the JU Institute of Physics. For many years he has been conducting research in Great Britain and Sweden, at the same time closely collaborating with leading research centres in Europe. He has performed many innovative experiments and designed equipment for European synchrotrons. Since 2010, he has been the Head of the National Synchrotron Radiation Centre SOLARIS.
Thanks to the visionary ideas of both Krzysztof Królas and Marek Stankiewicz, Kraków is now home to the first synchrotron in Central Eastern Europe. It is not only one of the largest and most versatile experimental device in Poland, but also a product of great organisational and technological effort.
