University of Wrocław
The University of Wrocław (Polish: Uniwersytet Wrocławski; German: Universität Breslau; Latin: Universitas Wratislaviensis) is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland.
History
The town council established the university in the 16th century; King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary signed the foundation deed. Due to fierce opposition from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, however, the new academic institution was soon closed. After 200 years, around 1702, Emperor Leopold I founded a small Jesuit academy on the same premises and named it, after himself, the Leopoldine Academy.
After Silesia was incorporated into Prussia during the Silesian Wars, the Academy was merged with the Protestant Viadrina University, previously located in Frankfurt (Oder). From the two, the Universitatis Literarum Vratislaviensis, which had been named Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau in 1809, was formed and established August 3, 1811. At first it had five faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic theology.
The university developed very rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, when it was then called the University of Breslau (Universität Breslau). At that time, numerous internationally renowned and historically notable scholars lectured at the university, including Johann Dirichlet, Ferdinand Cohn and Gustav Kirchhoff.
The professors left the city in January 1945, the buildings were partially destroyed during the defence of the city. After World War II, the city was occupied by the Soviet Union and given to the People's Republic of Poland, the Germans were largely expelled. Part of the collection of the university library was burned by soldiers of the Red Army on May 10 1945, four days after the German garrison surrendered the city.
The first Polish team of academics arrived in Wrocław in May 1945 and took custody of the university buildings, which were 70% destroyed. Very quickly some buildings were repaired, and a cadre of professors was built up, many coming from prewar Polish universities in Wilno and Lwów. The university was refounded under its current name as a Polish state university by a decree issued on August 24, 1945. Its first lecture was given on November 15, 1945 by Ludwik Hirszfeld. From 1952 to 1989 the University of Wrocław was known as Boleslaw Bierut University
In 2002 the university celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.
Notable alumni
Nobel Prize winners:
Other students:
- Adam Asnyk
- Mikołaj Bobowski
- Ludwik Bukowicki
- Zygmunt Celichowski
- Ignacy Chrzanowski
- Stephan Cohn-Vossen
- Jan Dzierżon
- Jan Gawroński
- Clara Immerwahr
- Barbara Piasecka Johnson
- Bronisław Kader
- Antoni Kalina
- Jan Kasprowicz
- Wojciech Korfanty
- Ksawery Liske
- Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz PM 2005/2006
- Józef Kazimierz Plebański
- Józef Przyborowski
- Joseph Schacht
- Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)
- Maciej M. Sysło
- Mieczysław Wolfke
- Joseph Wittig
Presidents of the university (after World War II)
- Stanisław Kulczyński - 1945-1951
- Jan Mydlarski - 1951-1953
- Edward Marczewski - 1953-1957
- Kazimierz Szarski - 1957-1959
- Witold Świda - 1959-1962
- Alfred Jahn - 1962-1968
- Włodzimierz Berutowicz - 1968-1971
- Marian Orzechowski - 1971-1975
- Kazimierz Urbanik - 1975- 1981
- Józef Łukaszewicz - 1981-1982
- Henryk Ratajczak - 1982-1984
- Jan Mozrzymas - 1984-1987
- Mieczysław Klimowicz - 1987-1990
- Wojciech Wrzesiński - 1990-1995
- Roman Duda - 1995 - 1999
- Romuald Gelles - 1999-2002
- Zdzisław Latajka - 2002-2005
- Leszek Pacholski - 2005-
External links
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