science 07/08

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ISSN 1732-6133
No. 7
Anybody out there?
Polish astronomers discover a distant solar system that may
include a planet similar to Earth.
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THE POLISH SCIENCE VOICE
From the Publisher
W
When a new government is elected, the usual question about
policy changes simply has to be asked. No wonder the special
guest in this year’s first issue of The Polish Science Voice is the
new minister of science and higher education, Prof. Barbara
Kudrycka. In our interview, she confirms that the Polish scientific and educational community faces the same problems her predecessor, Prof. Micha∏ Seweryƒski, tried to deal with. They are
concentrated around two key issues in both areas of the ministry’s interest: insufficient funding and the need for deep organizational change. Another equally important problem, and a
major challenge for everyone involved, is how to make Polish
science and the Polish economy work together. Without success
here, progress will be impossible. Presenting the ministry’s
interesting and bold plans, Kudrycka tells us she will pay special attention to strengthening several leading Polish universitylevel schools according to the simple rule that the better ones
should get more money. Thanks to this approach, strong teaching and research centers will become a driving force, significantly accelerating the pace of development and becoming the
breeding ground of talented people and innovative thinking that
Poland needs.
Among this group will be Poland’s oldest university, the
Jagiellonian University in Cracow, which was founded in 1364
by King Kazimierz the Great. Nicolaus Copernicus studied at
The Polish Science Voice
the famous old institution and said near the end of his life that
he owed all he had become to this university.
What links the Jagiellonian University, Copernicus and names
like Aleksander Wolszczan, Marcin Konacki, Bohdan Paczyƒski,
Andrzej Udalski, Marcin Kubiak and Micha∏ Szymaƒski? And
universities like Warsaw, Toruƒ and Princeton? The answer is
astronomy. It is no exaggeration to say that Poles are dominating the discovery of extrasolar planets—the journal Science has
recently reported that, thanks to a Polish team working at a
Chilean observatory, there is now greater hope that we are not
alone in the universe. World-famous Polish astronomer Prof.
Aleksander Wolszczan said the discovery “shows the capabilities of Polish astronomers and the role they are able to play on
large international teams that are increasingly set up to carry
out various ambitious scientific projects.”
Once we come back down to Earth, we will find out about a
fascinating municipal transport system being built in Opole, and
Polish creations on show at the world’s largest inventions fair
in Brussels.
No. 7
SPECIAL GUEST:
Prof. Barbara Kudrycka, science and higher education minister................3
ExtrasolarPlanets: A Polish Specialty................................................... 6
Promoting Polish Inventions ................................................................8
Red for Cancer. ..............................................................................10
Overhead Gondolas: A Cure for Traffic Woes? ..................................12
From Medicine to Black Holes: Help for Science .................................16
Published by Warsaw Voice S.A.
Publisher: Andrzej Jonas
Editors in charge: Danuta Górecka,
Witold ˚ygulski
Layout: Magdalena Jonas
Address: Warsaw Voice S.A.,
64 Ksi´cia Janusza Street,
01-452 Warsaw, Poland
tel. (+48-22) 33-59-700
Patent Protection: A Long and Winding Road... ..................................17
Jagiellonian University: Cracow’s Alma Mater ....................................18
EU Funds: Euros for Education........................................................22
A publication co-financed by
MINISTER OF SCIENCE
AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Polish Polar Station Turns 50..........................................................24
Internet site: www.warsawvoice.pl
e-mail: [email protected]
In Brief ......................................................................................26
All rights reserved®
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SPECIAL GUEST
Dominik Skurzak
More Money for Stars of Science
Prof. Barbara Kudrycka,
science and higher
education minister,
talks to Danuta Górecka.
The government is preparing a revolution in financing science, but apparently there is very little money available. What is going to change?
This year the government has
assigned 10 percent more money for
science than last year, in relative terms.
This could be supplemented with money
from an earmarked reserve that may be
added to the wage fund at the ministry.
This means that overall our budget is
not worse than it was in 2007. I realize
that savings and better management of
funds are essential. The reform package
being prepared by the ministry will on
one hand enable us to economize, and
on the other will offer the chance to
receive partial supplementary funding
from a VAT deduction. For this to happen, we need to have the support and
consent of the whole community.
We must not forget, either, that we
have received a huge injection of funds
from the European Union. We have 4.5
billion euros to spend by 2012, granted
to us for the development of research
infrastructure as well as scientific and
educational projects. Every year we distribute over zl.2 billion, chiefly as supplementary funding for research infrastructure and “soft” projects [projects
primarily involving personnel training].
Importantly, we are trying to introduce
changes enabling scientists to receive
money for research as efficiently and
quickly as possible, but only on the
basis of objectively conducted competitions.
Our fundamental principle is that
funding should go to the best, for the
best scientific projects, so that no
money is wasted.
Don’t you need somebody to buy
these projects so they aren’t put away
and forgotten when they’re finished?
We want to stimulate broader cooperation between science and business in
carrying out implementation projects.
We want to see commercial application
of inventions and research results. We
are working on turning science and the
economy into an inter-connected system. In this, there is a huge task ahead
for the National Center for Research
and Development (NCBiR). We want
the economy to have some influence on
research project planning, with information coming in about its needs, and university-level schools accepting orders
from the business world. It is necessary
to set up—and we are working on this—
an institution of middlemen, or brokers,
who would operate in the space between
these sectors, matching those from the
economy in need of research units with
those seeking companies to implement
their projects. Technological platforms
and innovation creators are of great
importance in connecting science and
the economy. That’s why the NCBiR
Council includes representatives of the
corporate world.
The scientific community complains
about scarce funding. On the other
hand, apart from the previously mentioned sources of funding, research
centers receive money from regional
governments, the Foundation for
Polish Science, Fulbright scholarships
and other, smaller sources. What is
the size of the budget gap in Polish
science?
The Lisbon Strategy expects
European countries to aim for 3 percent
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SPECIAL GUEST
4
scientists. We want to achieve a concentration of talent among both scientists
and students, including foreigners. I
think universities will be interested in
hiring the best foreigners if what they
have achieved in other countries is seen
as being compatible with the aims of a
given course and the unit hiring the scientist. This will create huge opportunities: students will get a chance to meet
famous scientists and obtain knowledge
from them. Meanwhile, this international scientific stimulation will trigger a
broader discussion and a confrontation
of different theories, leading in the
longer term to an increase in innovative,
original ideas and discoveries in science.
Innovative ideas and discoveries do
not translate into patents. Poland still
cannot compete with the rest of
Europe. Does the hope that this will
change lie with those flagship universities?
Unfortunately, Poland has just 22
patents granted by the European Patent
Office. The Czech Republic has twice
that, and Spain 10 times as many. This
is a signal that scientific competition
has reached a European level. It is also
true that Polish scientists working in
Poland, with a few exceptions of course,
are not always seen as important in
world science. The European Research
Council seems to have assessed Poland
similarly when it was awarding grants
to young scientists recently. Grants
were given to five Hungarians and not a
single Pole.
In establishing flagship universities
and courses, or university centers of
excellence, we will show that this is
where the best students should study
and where PhD courses of the highest
quality should be run, as this is where
the best scientists in Poland can be
found. If we manage to find and promote such centers of excellence, this
ought to be followed by appropriate
funding. The aim is to diversify the system of financing and support those who
are the best, for one thing so that the
scientists employed there do not need to
make extra money working at other
schools.
What will be the criteria for selecting
the flagship universities and who will
grant them the title?
A competition is one idea. Units that
believe they employ the best scientists
in Poland might say, “Let’s apply for
flagship status. We want to have a center of excellence.” Their application
could be reviewed in a number of ways.
The most difficult but essential element
would be assessing which papers by
Dominik Skurzak
of GDP as the level of financing for science. So far, only Sweden is coming
close to this figure. With only 0.56 percent of GDP, Polish science looks rather
poor. We should be crossing the 1-percent mark. The difference between that
and what we are currently spending is
the budget gap in Polish science today.
However, it could actually be smaller.
The ministry doesn’t always have complete information on the share of the
economic sector in research projects.
This does not necessarily mean
advanced technologies, but also social
science research, when scientists are
commissioned by local governments,
for example.
The money you mention should
increase the competitiveness of Polish
research projects and universities,
keeping scientists in the country and
attracting foreigners, including students, to Poland. Isn’t it true that for
now, Polish scientists prefer to stay at
foreign universities because the pay is
better?
It’s true that the Polish scientists making the greatest achievements, especially in astronomy or astrophysics, are
those working outside Poland. Prof.
Aleksander Wolszczan, who “hunts” for
planets, is one example. The recent discovery of a planetary system, by a team
of scientists from the University of
Warsaw and from abroad, shows that
important discoveries are made by international research teams. Hence, the
Ministry of Science and Higher
Education’s idea is to set up an elite
group of flagship universities in Poland,
employing the best foreign scientists.
To this end, we want to apply a method
of identifying the best courses and universities according to the quality of
teaching and research. This group will
receive the most money from the budget
and EU funds. The universities will
receive money for research equipment,
lectures by eminent foreign scientists
and PhD seminars. The remaining universities will continue doing research
and teaching but the demands made of
them will not change.
Creating an elite group of the best
universities—with good research and
earning prospects—should draw great
Polish scientists working abroad back to
Poland, and should also attract foreign
those scientists can be found in leading
scientific periodicals. To decide which
scientific journals have the highest prestige, we could consult with the
European Research Council or the
European University Association. The
Council for Science has proposed a
point system for publications in specific
periodicals. It would be a good thing—
and I have sent a memo on this to the
chairman of the Council for Science—to
check this system according to
European criteria and state which periodicals are the top-quality ones. If the
number of scientists publishing their
papers in these journals is high enough,
that will mean their home unit has the
greatest intellectual potential, while the
scientists themselves are sought-after in
other countries. Top-quality teaching is
also important, together with good
marks from the State Accreditation
Commission. Innovation in school management, promoting the best people,
will also be key.
When will the criteria for selecting
the flagship universities be defined?
We will define the detailed criteria
within three months. After that, once the
legislative process is completed, schools
will have the right to submit courses
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SPECIAL GUEST
they consider to be flagship ones to the
Ministry of Science and Higher
Education. A commission of experts,
including European specialists, will
assess the applications. There is a vast
amount of work ahead of us to make
sure the selection process is as fair and
sound as possible.
Our fundamental
principle is that funding
should go to the best,
for the best scientific
projects, so that no
money is wasted.
Will giving supplementary funding to
better universities be done at the cost
of poorer ones, pushing them even
further to the sidelines?
I cannot present all the concepts of
the reform today. We do, however, have
some solutions in mind to protect universities outside the flagship group from
losing their position. Universities enjoy
a great degree of autonomy. Apart from
funds from the state budget, they have
other substantial sources of money, for
example from tuition for evening and
extramural courses. Many university
presidents earmark part of these funds
for supplementing the salaries of their
staff, including those who do not actually teach evening or extramural classes.
The money is also used to finance
investments, equipment or renovations.
Nobody restricts university revenues.
Schools have full autonomy in obtaining
and distributing them.
Perhaps the universities that are
barely coping should be shut down. Is
such an option being considered?
No. However, we are thinking about
various solutions allowing support to be
given to these other universities.
Merging schools could be one possibility. In Szczecin, for example, the
University of Agriculture is merging
with the Technical University. Their
aim is to set up a joint University of
Technology. This can only be done by
an act of parliament. The Ministry of
Science is helping them establish the
new university. Will it be easy?
Probably not. The most common reason
why schools with lower potential won’t
merge is the ambition of their administrations and senates. However, if two
schools of similar profiles merge, they
can consolidate their position and scientific strength. Thanks to this, they will
be able to create strong units and even
develop flagship courses within the
merged university.
Universities of average potential
could, on the other hand, work together
with local governments on developing
courses that are important to a given
region and unique on a national scale.
One prospective example is the university in Bia∏ystok, which—thanks to its
location and its own merits—could set
up a course in Belarusian studies, which
would be unique in Poland.
Does the ministry have plans to
charge tuition fees for full-time courses at public universities?
I would like to stress that the abolition
of free studies is unrealistic in this parliamentary term, due to the skepticism
of Poland’s president and the opposition. However, the system of financing
university studies can be changed to a
fairer one. The present system doesn’t
always help the poorest people. I am
convinced that the needy are the ones
who should receive support. Many students taking advantage of welfare grants
at both public and non-public schools—
we provide supplementary funding to
both—do not always deserve them,
because their material situation is good
or very good. Regional welfare centers
could help assess the real situation if the
commission awarding these grants had
any doubts, to avoid providing welfare
support to financially wealthy students.
University presidents support the idea of
fees, but students usually say “no” in
any discussions on the issue.
There is one other problem. The number of students at technical universities
taking courses involving math and
physics is decreasing. One reason
behind this is that math is no longer a
mandatory part of the school-leaving
exam. We will be seeking comprehensive solutions to this, using some kind
of incentive—perhaps even financial.
Yet another problem is that this is a
time of population decline, so we want
to open up to foreign students, not only
from the near East (Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus) but also from China and India.
It is also important for the Erasmus
program to be implemented as well as
possible. The ministry’s data show, for
example, that almost 600 people go to
Britain every year [under the program],
but only 50 come from Britain to
Poland. Universities often don’t offer
courses taught entirely in English and
some of them won’t count credits
obtained abroad under the Erasmus program. Universities themselves have to
be more active in drawing in students
from other countries. Poland is very
attractive to students from the countries
I mentioned. We are an EU member but
not as expensive as France or Britain.
We should take advantage of the opportunity this offers.
Wroc∏aw is vying to be the location of
the European Institute of Technology.
How is the government supporting
these efforts and what are the city’s
chances?
Establishing the European Institute of
Technology in Wroc∏aw would be good
for Poland not only for reasons of prestige. It is our ambition for the group of
European scientists working on projects
coordinated (hopefully) from Wroc∏aw
to include as many Polish scientists as
possible. I have appointed a special
operational team for this very purpose. I
have held numerous meetings with representatives of other governments to
obtain support for our idea and have had
quite a few positive responses. Wroc∏aw
Mayor Rafa∏ Dutkiewicz is also very
active; he has prepared the marketing
side of the project, including presentations to be shown in different countries
and communities. Prof. Jerzy Buzek
[Polish prime minister from 1997 to
2001] is lobbying for the project in the
European Parliament. We are promoting
the idea in many countries and I don’t
know of a single one where they are
unaware that Poland is applying to be
home to the European Institute of
Technology.
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ASTRONOMY
Extrasolar Planets:
A Polish Specialty
Polish astronomers are star performers when it comes
to spotting planets outside our solar system.
In
1986, Polish researcher Bohdan Paczyƒski
developed a method to detect planets that is
known as gravitational microlensing, and
astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the
first extrasolar system in the early 1990s. Just
recently a team of Polish scientists working
on a project called the Optical
Gravitational Lensing Experiment
(OGLE), discovered OGLE-2006BLG-109, an extrasolar planetary
system that is a “rescaled version”
of our solar system.
“This system has room for
planets similar to Earth,” says
astrophysicist Prof. Andrzej
Udalski, who heads the
team, which also includes
Marcin Kubiak and
Micha∏ Szymaƒski from
the Warsaw University
A s t r o n o m i c a l
Observatory.
Udalski’s team is a
world leader in research
based on the gravitational
microlensing
phenomenon. “Thanks to
microlensing we can accurately say if there are planets at a given distance from
the parent star,” Udalski
says. “In the case of OGLE2006-BLG-109, we managed to
discover two massive planets and
determine that there is no other
massive planet between them and the
system’s parent star, which means
there is room for smaller objects, like
planets of a kind similar to Earth.”
6
Since the early 20th century, when Albert Einstein published his general theory of relativity, it has been known that
gravitation changes the course of light rays. This discovery
opened up new possibilities for detecting “dark matter” by
studying its influence on the light rays of more distant and
brighter objects. Because dark matter acts rather like a lens,
bending light rays, the phenomenon is called gravitational
lensing. Gravitational microlensing, which takes places on a
smaller scale, was first described in detail by Paczyƒski, who
worked at Princeton University at the time. The late professor
demonstrated that when two stars and Earth lie practically in
one line, the star closer to Earth can act like a gravitational
microlens, focusing the distant star’s light in such a way that
for an observer on Earth its brightness increases in a characteristic way. Paczyƒski predicted that the light curve of such a
lensed star should be bell-shaped, which helps distinguish it
from other objects that change their brightness.
Gravitational microlensing has become one of the most
interesting methods of discovering extrasolar planets (exoplanets). It turns out that when another object, a planet, for
example, circles a star that acts as a lens, the light curve can
be completely different in shape. The bell-shaped profile of
the light changes can feature extra “peaks” related to the
light being focused by planets. This method is hard to implement and requires a lot of luck. Scientists have to keep up
regular observations of millions of stars in the hope that
once in a while one of them will succumb to this phenomenon. Today this is the only way to discover distant
planets with a small mass.
Thanks to a dedicated 1.3-meter reflector telescope at the
Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and a CCD camera
designed by Udalski as well as efficient software designed by
other Polish scientists, the OGLE team from Poland practically has a monopoly on this kind of research and reports major
discoveries once in a while.
One of the most interesting “microlenses” discovered by
the OGLE team was OGLE-2006-BLG-109, which displayed
an extremely interesting light curve in March and April 2006.
The scientists assumed that two planets were revolving
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ASTRONOMY
around the lensed star—one with a mass
71 percent of that of Jupiter, circling at
a distance of 2.3 astronomical units
(AU) from the star, and the other with a
mass 27 percent of that of Jupiter, circling at a distance of 4.6 AU.
In our solar system, Jupiter circles the
Sun at 5.2 AU, while Saturn, three times
lighter than Jupiter, goes around it at 9.5
AU. This means that it is a slight exaggeration to say that the newly discovered planetary system is a copy of our
solar system, especially since only two
planets have been discovered there so
far, most probably gaseous ones, and
the existence of other bodies—including
rocky planets similar to Earth—is still
uncertain, though not impossible. In
addition, the OGLE-2006-BLG-109 star
itself is half the size of the Sun and
markedly cooler. The discovery increases the number of systems in which
gaseous giants similar to Jupiter and
Saturn are found far from the parent
star, just like in our solar system.
The first extrasolar planets most often
turned out to be “hot Jupiters”—
large planets circling along
very tight orbits, with a
complete circle taking
days or weeks and not,
as with Jupiter and
Saturn, 12 to almost
30
years.
This
required a significant
revision of ideas about
the emergence of planetary systems and seemed
to suggest that our solar system was unique. Thanks to discoveries such as those of the OGLE
team, we have learned that there are
more systems similar to ours and that
the ways in which they came into being
are not an exceptional occurrence in space.
The
gravitational
microlensing method is
not the only method for
seeking out extrasolar
planets that has been
widely used by Polish scientists. The OGLE team
also applies the high-yield
transit method, which has led to
the discovery of a few new planets, with
another several dozen awaiting confirmation.
EYE ON OGLE
Astronomer Aleksander
Wolszczan explains why
the discovery of the
OGLE-2006-BLG-109
extrasolar planetary system
is more important than
many previous discoveries:
Wolszczan: Is there a second Earth?
Studying extrasolar planets
seems to be a field in which
Polish scientists truly
excel. The first extrasolar system was discovered by Wolszczan,
and the gravitational
microlensing method
was devised by
Paczyƒski,
who,
together with his student Shude Mao, proposed that it be used to
search for planets. Today the
Polish OGLE team is applying it in
practice, and is practically the only
international group to have any major
successes in this area. Yet another
method frequently used by the
team takes advantage of
spectral line shifts in the
stellar spectrum. Thanks
to this method, Dr.
Marcin Konacki from the
Polish Academy of
Sciences Astronomical
Center has discovered several interesting planets
including one belonging to the
HD 188753 triple-star system.
Up to now, probably the most
dramatic outcome of the search
for extrasolar planets was that
none of the discovered planetary
systems was anything like our
solar system. This was completely contrary to the belief,
widespread for 15 or so years,
that things should be exactly the
opposite. Of course, this situation was
partly caused by a lack of sufficiently sensitive instruments for detecting non-massive planets similar to Earth, which provoked speculation about the “uniqueness”
of our system and consequently about the
“uniqueness” of life on our planet.
The discovery of a system of two giant
planets whose orbits are similar to the
orbits of Jupiter and Saturn finally shows
that among the great number of possible
planetary arrangements, there is also
room for architectures similar to our solar
system. Though this is still a long way
from finding “a second Earth,” the discovery challenges the view that we are in
some way unique, and this is important
both scientifically and psychologically.
This discovery also shows the huge
potential of searching for planets using
the gravitational microlensing method
developed by the late Polish professor
Bohdan Paczyƒski.
The Polish astronomers led by Prof.
Andrzej Udalski were the first to record
this microlensing episode and enabled the
discovery of a fascinating “analog” of our
solar system. This shows the capabilities
of Polish astronomers and the role they
are able to play on large international
teams that are increasingly set up to carry
out various ambitious scientific projects.
Arkadiusz Olech
7
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TECHNOLOGY
very year in late November, Brussels hosts the
world’s largest show of inventions known as the
Brussels Eureka World Exhibition of Innovation,
Research and New Technologies. Polish scientists
and designers have been winning top prizes there
for years. This is not just the effect of their creativity, but of good
promotion too. An invention’s ultimate success often depends on
one’s ability to reach a broad global audience.
The effective promotion of Polish scientific and technical
achievements and innovative products is in no small part due
to Eurobusiness-Haller, a public relations, translation and
advertising company based in Katowice. Since 1990 this
company has been the official representative of Brussels
Eureka in Poland, providing Polish exhibitors with a full
range of services from the moment of submitting an entry to
organizing a stand at the event. Eurobusiness-Haller conducts
extensive public awareness campaigns to tell businesses about
the possibility of participating in the exhibition, and invites
various research centers, institutes and universities to work
with it. The company also seeks supplementary funding to
reduce the cost of taking part in the exhibition. So far, all the
exhibitors working with Eurobusiness-Haller have received
extra funding.
This organizational machine has been devised and is managed
by the company’s president, Barbara Haller de Hallenburg. With
a master’s degree in French, she first attended the Eureka exhibition in 1990 as an interpreter. “I met Jose Loriaux, the president
of the exhibition, and it was he who encouraged me to promote
Polish inventions,” Haller says. “You could say his proposal laid
the groundwork for the Eurobusiness-Haller company. Ever
since then we have been showing Polish inventions in Brussels
every year.”
E
Rough beginnings
In the early-1990s, Poland was a completely different country
than it is today. Practically speaking, only large state institutions
developed any inventions and could qualify as exhibitors. But at
the same time they were poor market players, as the market was
not particularly competitive then. Research institutes and universities felt no urge to promote their inventions, and in fact these
were not really inventions in today’s understanding of the term.
Institutions developed technologies that did not necessarily find
application in industry.
“Today cooperation between research centers and industry is
becoming much closer,” says Haller. “Inventions are often developed to fill a specific market need. These include new medical
and environmental technologies. Moreover, many research centers have started manufacturing their own products, earning
money for further research. Innovation pays off because it brings
not just social effects but also financial gains.”
This trend is especially visible among Polish companies showcasing their achievements at Brussels Eureka. In the early 1990s,
there were hardly any private companies involved, today their
number is growing. The number of medals handed to Polish
inventors each year proves that their innovations can effectively
compete with international technologies. Poland’s European
Union accession on May 1, 2004, made it easier for Polish businesses to compete on foreign markets. There are many assistance
8
Promoting
Polish
Inventions
A small PR firm in the southern city of
Katowice has played a key role in helping
Polish researchers and innovators bag
programs available, offering grants for research, development,
implementation, promotion and participation in specialist events.
A helping hand
Eurobusiness-Haller provides every exhibitor with a comprehensive range of services: from booking a hotel, ordering a stand
and producing notice boards, through compiling and translating
materials for the judges, to transporting the exhibits to the site
and setting up the stand. The company can even represent an
exhibitor in Brussels if they are unable to attend themselves for
some reason.
Help in preparing exhibition materials is especially important
as Brussels Eureka is a competition judged by experts, and the
materials have to reflect all the criteria that the judges take into
consideration. For it to be assessed properly, every invention has
to be appropriately described, with the focus on the most important information, while leaving out anything the judges would
not be able to study thoroughly anyway. Eurobusiness-Haller’s
experience in this area is due at least partly to the fact that Haller
herself was for many years a member, and for two years vicechairwoman, of the exhibition’s panel of judges. Utilizing her
many years of experience, she now advises exhibitors on how to
prepare materials on a given invention to increase its chances of
winning a prize.
Regular exhibitors who have worked with Eurobusiness-Haller
for some time also value the company’s tips on whether it is
worth showing a given product in Brussels. “We tell exhibitors
which of their ideas have the greatest chances of being successful. Sometimes we tell them to wait another year and advance
their research a little more, to give their entry a greater chance,”
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TECHNOLOGY
Haller de Hallenburg:
Running a well-oiled promotion machine
Haller says. “This is the effect of our many years of experience.
In principle, we don’t just come up with ideas. A project has to
be at some stage of advancement, at least after laboratory tests or
at the prototype stage—it has to have a realistic chance of being
implemented.”
Prize hunters
In 1990, Eurobusiness-Haller promoted five Polish inventions
in Brussels; in 2007, it promoted 35. Officially, innovators may
submit their entries until the end of June every year, but in practice the company accepts applications to take part in the exhibition until almost the last minute.
The awards at Brussels Eureka are gold, silver and bronze
medals, gold medals with special distinctions, and one Grand
Prize. In 2004, the Foundation for the Development of Cardiac
Surgery (FRK) in Zabrze, southern Poland, won a Grand Prize for
its PolVad ventricular assist device. A year later the device won a
gold medal at the 104th Concours-Lepine international exhibition
of inventions in Paris. Haller organized a business mission to
Paris to coincide with the event. As part of the mission, FRK
managers met with professors from leading heart surgery centers
in France for business talks. It was a huge success; not only were
top-level executives from these centers involved, but they also
showed great interest in the Polish project. As a result, the FRK
enlisted foreign partners.
Business missions
Eurobusiness-Haller seeks out prospective partners for Polish
companies and arranges meetings between them. Such business
missions have a strictly commercial goal: to help the company
enter a given market, find business partners or establish scientific cooperation abroad.
Brussels Eureka and the Concours-Lepine exhibition in
Paris are two promotional events at which exhibitors are primarily interested in obtaining references. However, there are
other trade events in various areas that are strictly commercial. Eurobusiness-Haller works with world trade exhibition
leader Reed Exhibitions, a company based in London that
organizes many sector events in 46 countries around the
world. “We promote 12 of their events in Poland,” says
Haller. “Not all sector events need a Polish representative, as
there are areas in which Polish innovators are not involved.
We make things much easier for our exhibitors, as they
arrange all organizational matters, beginning with applying to
participate—with us here and not with the organizers somewhere out there in the world. We also help exhibitors obtain
supplementary funding to reimburse them for some of the
costs of taking part in an event.”
Eurobusiness-Haller also takes care to promote Polish inventions domestically. Every year in March the company co-organizes the Inventions Market in Warsaw, an event during which
businesses that have won awards at innovation exhibitions
abroad show their projects. “Polish inventions need to be promoted around the world, but they also have to attract investors in
Poland, and be implemented here,” says Haller.
She adds that her company also tries to encourage Polish
businesses to become more innovative. In 2006,
Eurobusiness-Haller launched its first competition for young
Polish inventors, aged up to 30. The winners will be able to
showcase their projects at the Brussels exhibition, and then at
the Warsaw Inventions Market. “Seeking out such talent and
helping these people spread their wings is part of our company’s mission,” says Haller. “Anyone who thinks creatively
and is able to translate their ideas into actions—by using their
inventions in practice, launching production, and creating
jobs—deserves to be helped in every possible way. They
develop new and important methods that help improve our
quality of life.”
Bagful of awards
Over the years, the company has often been singled out for
praise and received many prestigious awards for its activities.
In 1995 and 1996, it won awards from the head of the
Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) for promoting
Polish science around the world. It also received letters of
congratulations from the KBN head in 1994, 1995, 1996,
1997 and 2002, for promoting Polish scientific and technological achievements internationally. In 2005, EurobusinessHaller received another two congratulatory letters, from the
minister of the economy and the minister of science and information technology. The awards marked 15 years of the company’s efforts to promote Polish inventions abroad. In 1994,
1999 and 2003, Eurobusiness-Haller received the Cavalier’s
Cross of the Order of Invention from Belgium’s Highest
Commission of Awards, and followed up with the Polish
Prime Minister’s Honorary Badge of Merit for its
Contribution to Innovation in 2006.
Ewa Dereƒ
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MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS
RED FOR
CANCER
A Polish discovery in the field of medical technology, a spectrometric system for
the early detection and diagnosis of cancer, won a top prize at the 2007 Brussels
Eureka World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and New Technologies.
he system is a joint effort
between engineers and doctors.
Prof. Aleksander Sieroƒ, head of
the Clinic for Internal Diseases,
Angiology and Physical Medicine at the
Medical University of Silesia in Bytom,
designed the diagnostic apparatus.
Engineers from the Institute of Medical
Technology and Equipment in Zabrze
(ITAM) built the prototype, together
with scientists from the Department of
Optoelectronics at the Silesian
University of Technology’s Institute of
Physics in Gliwice.
The system is currently undergoing
trials in Sieroƒ’s clinic in Bytom. After
the examination of a large number of
patients, the diagnostic results are spectacular. Sieroƒ’s team is now working
on the addition of an endoscope to the
system to enhance its use still further.
T
Light therapy
“The battle with cancer is a huge challenge faced by the modern world,” says
Sieroƒ. “An even greater challenge is the
early detection of cell changes that in the
future could lead to cancers. The possibility of early detection of disease is the
essence of modern medicine and this is
the goal I have set for my life’s work.
10
Our system allows for the assessment of
not only certain cancerous cells but also
pre-cancer cell changes, which is still
impossible to do with current diagnostic
techniques. The system’s sensitivity is
on average three times greater than that
of traditional diagnostic methods. The
system allows for a very precise diagnosis of the shape, size and location of cell
changes so that we know exactly from
where to take cell samples for
histopathological
examination.
Sometimes our findings show that such
a course of action is not required.
Moreover, the diagnosis is carried out in
real time, which shortens the time needed to make decisions on treatment.”
The award-winning system for cancer
detection is a unique application of the
photodynamic diagnostic method. The
latter is based on healthy and cancerous
cells showing up in a different color
when light of a particular wavelength is
shined on them. Sieroƒ’s more precise
utilization of the photodynamic diagnostic method is the result of his earlier
clinical research. For over 10 years he
has been using photodynamic therapy,
which utilizes ultraviolet, visible and
infrared light to destroy cancerous cells.
In 1998, Sieroƒ created the Center for
Laser Diagnostics and Cancer Therapy in
Bytom, which today is Poland’s foremost
photodynamic therapy center. It is the
only center in the country that utilizes
photodynamic therapy in the diagnosis
and treatment of various cancers as of the
skin, mucous membranes, mouth, reproductory organs, bladder, stomach and
large intestine. Many foreign specialists
have visited the center, including representatives from the Fox Chase Cancer
Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
USA, the world’s leading photodynamic
therapy center. The latter’s high praise
served to place Bytom among the world’s
best centers for the use of photodynamic
methods to combat cancer.
Photodynamic therapy is based on
introducing into a patient’s body a
chemical substance that accumulates in
cancerous cells. The substance absorbs
laser light of a particular wavelength.
The photochemical reaction results in
the selective destruction of these cells.
Thus this is a very precise method of
targeting and destroying cancerous cells
without damage to healthy ones. It
allows for cancer treatment without the
need of surgery, before or after surgery,
negates the need for chemotherapy or
radiotherapy but can also supplement
such treatments. Besides the medical
benefits, this method has excellent cosmetic benefits, particularly important
when treating skin cancers.
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MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS
The new system ready for action
Below: Cancer screening at work
Green is healthy
Photodynamic diagnosis is based on the
same process of absorption by cancerous
cells or dysplastic tissue of a chemical
substance. This diagnostic method is
extremely precise and allows for the
detection and identification of even the
smallest groups of abnormal cells, which
having absorbed the chemical substance,
glow under a laser beam. Cancerous cells
glow red or pink and healthy cells green
or blue, depending on the substance
absorbed.
Such diagnostic equipment has been
around for a few years. One of its kind is
Onco Life, built in Canada but which in
2005 was still a prototype. Sieroƒ had
such apparatus in 2005 in his Bytom center. However, even the most advanced
equipment depends solely on the fluorescence of a chemical substance to assess
the abnormality of cells and gives results
based on the intensity of red glow from
cancerous cells. To be able to assess the
degree of cell abnormality and to precisely
calculate the volume of affected cells, in
addition to the identification of cell abnormality, was the goal that the Silesian doctors and engineers set themselves.
Sieroƒ’s system, the first and only one
of its kind in the world, differs from other
known diagnostic systems in that it uti-
lizes spectrum analysis of visible light.
Thanks to this analysis, diagnosis is possible of identified abnormal tissue areas.
Moreover, it enables precise analysis of
fluorescence data before and after photodynamic therapy. In practice, this significantly shortens the time required for diagnosis and treatment decisions and helps
monitor the effectiveness of the treatment.
Furthermore, it reduces the number of tissue samples required for histopathological
examination, which significantly improves
patient comfort.
The equipment built at the Institute of
Medical Technology and Equipment is
also designed to examine large areas of
the body such as the back or chest to identify abnormal cells. The light used is tolerated well by patients, hence its use even in
sensitive areas such as around the eyes.
Looking for investors
Sieroƒ’s diagnostic apparatus looks like
an ordinary camera on a tripod. In reality, it
is a camera combined with a computer with
specialized software and a filter to give light
of a wavelength of 405 nm, or a blue-ultra-
violet light. The computer processes a series
of photographs to give light spectrum readouts. “To differentiate between a normal
and abnormal spectrum a doctor needs just a
fraction of a second,” says ITAM engineer
Pawe∏ Gibiƒski, one of the system’s designers. “The computer readout for a healthy
cell is flat, that for a cancerous cell has
peaks. We use a unique method because the
picture we get is made up of the results of
point-by-point spectrum analysis.”
The computer software is designed to
show the spectrum characteristics of cells under
examination and to create a
map indicating the position
of cells with similar spectrum characteristics. Such a
map gives the exact location of where photodynamic
therapy or potential surgical
intervention is required.
“The apparatus is currently no more than a practical
model, which carries out its
designed function,” says
Gibiƒski. “We should now think more about
its overall design to give it a functional,
esthetic shape to meet modern-day standards.
We would also like to give it a short, easily
recognizable name, which would enhance its
potential commercial value.”
The system’s inventors are currently
most concerned about finding someone to
produce it. It would be a shame if the system were to remain a prototype, especially
after its Brussels success, the researchers
say. There are many excellent Polish inventions that have stayed on drawing boards
and have never gone into production for
lack of someone to invest in them. Science
surely makes the most sense when scientific
inventions can benefit people by being
accessible on the market, Sieroƒ said.
Ewa Dereƒ
The scientists behind the spectrometric
system for the early detection
and diagnosis of cancers are:
Dr. Zbigniew Opilski, Prof. Aleksander
Sieroƒ, Prof. Marian Urbaƒczyk,
Prof. Tadeusz Pustelny, Dr. Adam Gacek,
Pawe∏ Gibiƒski, Wincenty Kubica, Erwin
Mociak, Dr. Wojciech Latos, Tomasz
Woênica, Dr. Micha∏ Kalemba, and Dr.
Jakub Adamczyk.
11
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Overhead Gondolas:
A Cure for
Traffic Woes?
all goes to plan, two years
from now, Opole, a city in
southern Poland with a population of 120,000, will have
Poland’s first electrically
powered overhead rail gondolas as part
of its mass transit system. With a total of
80 km of rails, the system will connect all
of the city’s residential districts.
Anyone who lives or works in a large
metropolis is all too familiar with that
feeling of helplessness that comes with
being stuck in traffic. Mikosza’s invention, called MISTER, or the
Metropolitan Individual System of
Transportation on an Elevated Rail, may
revolutionize the way we travel.
“Gliding along a few meters above
street level in a small gondola is much
cheaper, faster and safer than anything
on offer today,” Mikosza says.
“Lightweight poles resembling street
lamps will be stationed along the street
to support the openwork rail. People will
soon get accustomed to the new
streetscapes in which four-person gondolas will be whizzing overhead at about
50 kph. The gondolas will stop at special
stations but only on demand. This will
ensure smooth and collision-free traffic
flow along the main arteries.”
The gondolas will be able to travel
along a 45-degree gradient, Mikosza
says. This saves space when turning into
stations, which can be placed anywhere
without disturbing the existing infrastructure. “Accidents will not happen.
There will be no problems with distracting the driver, talking over the phone,
If
12
Polish electronic engineer and IT specialist Olgierd
Mikosza has invented a public transport system that
may soon see passengers gliding along in electric
gondolas 10 meters in the air.
listening to music, or driving all day
with your lights on. The gondola simply
drives itself. Passengers need only proceed to their nearest station, board one
of the waiting gondolas and choose their
destination. The gondola will then leave
the station, merge in with the traffic and
cruise to the selected station at constant
speed without stopping along the way.”
MISTER is the opposite of today’s
transportation systems where “the bigger the better” is the prevailing mind-set
everywhere, Mikosza says. Airbuses are
built to carry 600, and subway systems
are designed to carry thousands. But
Mikosza believes that efficiency is best
achieved with small vehicles. “Today’s
subway and tramway networks are
either overcrowded with sweaty passengers or empty,” he says. “My gondolas
run on demand, not to some arbitrary
timetable.”
MISTER is “like spilling a glass of
water,” he says. “The water level is high
when the glass is full but disperses over
the tabletop when spilled. MISTER disperses crowds of people throughout the
city instead of cramming them into a
single large vehicle. The heart of MISTER is its computer system which regulates traffic and optimizes its flow. This
is not difficult from a scientific perspective and doesn’t require a Pentium chip
in each and every gondola. Standard
industrial processors which can be purchased in bulk will do the trick.”
The constant availability of gondolas
prevents gondola jams although the system obviously requires more gondolas
than passengers to work. “Not everybody converges at a bus stop simultaneously,” Mikosza says. “They come in
dribs and drabs over time. When buses
arrive every three minutes during rush
hour, there are 20 people waiting. But
there wouldn’t be anybody waiting had
each of those passengers boarded a gondola during those three minutes. The
gondola stations are a key component of
the system as they ensure that stationary
gondolas don’t block traffic. My calculations show that stations capable of
holding five gondolas would suffice for
downtown Warsaw. Gondolas can park
parallel to each other just like cars
except that they are shorter and therefore take up less space.”
A major strength of the system is that
gondolas are available 24 hours a day
but only run when required. However,
they are there when required so there is
no waiting.
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Mikosza came up with this original
idea when he lived near San Francisco
for two years during which time he “got
to learn all about traffic congestion,” as
he puts it. “My daily 40-kilometer commute to work was a three-hour
odyssey,” he says. “I remember thinking
how life was flitting by while I was sitting idly in traffic. And this is the
United States we’re talking about, one
of the world’s wealthiest societies with
a road infrastructure second to none.
The San Francisco area has an eightlane freeway, countless kilometers of
overpass roads, a well-developed subway system and new bridges are going
up all the time. The result? Traffic congestion gets worse every year.”
Most urban areas are blighted with
costly and unsightly overpasses and the
areas under the supports are just wasted
space unless they were designed as shelter for the homeless, Mikosza says.
“Why keep sinking huge sums of money
into traditional means of transport for so
little return? What we need is a new
approach. MISTER, like most other
inventions, was born of necessity.”
Mikosza says the system is safe technically even though some people might have
reservations about traveling 10 meters in
the air. “I’m happy to run my system by
any authority on IT systems anywhere in
the world,” he says. “I have competed
successfully against the likes of IBM and
Hewlett-Packard to win lucrative contracts
in South Africa and Asia more than once
so I can safely say that my systems are as
good as theirs. This system has been
worked out to the last detail from an IT
standpoint and is absolutely foolproof.
And building a gondola, a support and a
rail is hardly a major feat of engineering.”
Gondolas are much less likely to
break down than planes, which are the
safest means of transport, Mikosza says.
“The frequency of failure is practically
zero because there is nothing that can go
wrong apart from an electric motor and
a couple of bearings. Gondolas are on a
par with bicycles in terms of mechanical
complexity. Obviously, they require
planned maintenance but they come
equipped with failure warning systems.
If a gondola does break down, that section of the route can be temporarily
closed and other gondolas rerouted
while it is removed. The eventuality of a
breakdown doesn’t seem to cause
motorists undue trauma and cars have
more than 3,000 parts.”
How much it costs
MISTER costs about zl.10 million to
zl.20 million per kilometer, depending on
the number of gondolas and the scale of
production, while the Warsaw metro has
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
cost roughly zl.300 million per km,
Mikosza says. “It’s a lot easier and cheaper to erect a support than it is to drill a
tunnel. We haven’t even managed to build
20 km of metro rail in Warsaw over the
last 50 years. And the taxpayer chips in
about zl.9 for every ticket sold. If that
doesn’t bother you then it should. If we
spent our limited funds on building a
MISTER network over the next 50 years,
we could have 250 km covering 70 percent of the city instead of another measly
20 km. Most Varsovians would choose to
travel by gondola. Cars are only popular
now because public transport is so uncomfortable and overcrowded. Low power
costs and high reliability translate into
lower operating costs. MISTER doesn’t
require a cast of thousands—just a few IT
specialists. The system could turn a profit
with tickets priced no higher than today’s
tram tickets. Forget about deficits and
subsidies and think about earning money
instead of throwing it away.”
MISTER should delight all those who
value environmental protection. Public
transportation without exhaust fumes is
14
a dream come true for any environmentalist. Electric gondolas are the most
eco-friendly transport there is, Mikosza
says. They neither damage green areas
nor emit exhaust fumes. They are also
the most energy-efficient form of transport. “It costs only one grosz to carry
one passenger one kilometer,” he says.
“Compare this with the 40 groszy it
costs to achieve the same thing by car.
And that’s at current gas prices! It only
takes a kilowatt of power to set a gondola in motion compared with 60 kW
for a 15-ton tram. That’s comparable to
running an efficient hairdryer. We will
still need to generate power, of course,
but we will use a good deal less than we
do now. MISTER’s flexibility is another
factor that has to be taken into consideration. It’s a simple task to dismantle a
section of gondola rail should that part
of town be rezoned or redeveloped.”
The system can carry 4,000-10,000
passengers per hour on a single rail one
way, Mikosza says. The capacity can be
easily doubled by building a two-level
system. The system’s flexibility is a
major asset: it can be expanded at will
without huge outlays and within a short
time. “In the future MISTER will revolutionize not only passenger transport
but also goods delivery, garbage
removal and so on,” Mikosza says.
Opole takes the risk
Money is the main thing needed to
implement an invention. And MISTER,
which is defined as a Personal Rapid
Transport (PRT) system, requires
investors with imagination. The gondola
system, designed to solve the problem
of traffic jams, needs unconventional
thinking about municipal transportation.
No large city in Poland except Opole
was ready to take the risk when
Mikosza unveiled his project.
“Many people admired our courage,”
says Krzysztof Poczàtek, head of the
Department for European Affairs and
Development Planning at Opole City
Hall. “It’s true that it takes a major
change in one’s way of thinking about
public transportation to invest in an
innovative project like this. Neither
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Warsaw nor Cracow or Katowice, cities
with much more traffic than Opole, were
prepared to do it. We think Mikosza’s
system is very promising; once we have
this system up and running, we will be
decades ahead of other cities.”
Ecology was one of the most important
considerations for the city of Opole,
Poczàtek says. “The system runs on electricity, so we avoid not just traffic congestion but also exhaust gases in the city. The
way the whole system is built is not complicated; it doesn’t require huge earthworks, cranes or other heavy machinery, so
the work won’t restrict traffic in the city.
The two years we have given ourselves to
build the trial section are necessary mainly
to develop the computer system.”
Calling all investors
The system is available to anyone who
wants to invest their time or money,
Mikosza says. On his website, he provides
information useful to prospective
investors. He estimates that the project
would be recouped in three to five years
and then provide a return of 20-50 percent.
For now, a consortium of Swedish
companies has decided to finance the
construction of the system, whose prototype was unveiled in Opole September
last year and was on display in the city’s
main market square for a month.
Mikosza has knocked on many doors
in Poland over the past several months.
Ever since he started visiting officials to
try and get them interested in his idea, he
has been labeled anything from a mad
scientist to a brilliant visionary. But
many officials found it difficult to completely ignore his vision of gondolas gliding above town because the inventor has
quite a few achievements to his credit.
Having graduated from the Warsaw
University of Technology, Mikosza went
to Britain in 1975 and quickly found a
job working on large IT systems at the
Rothschild bank. He later worked as a
programmer for a mining company in
South Africa, where he created a control
and safety system to protect miners in
the world’s largest platinum mine that
employs 15,000 miners per shift. He followed this with a stint at ICL and then
set up his own business and worked with
Siemens. His career subsequently took
him to New Zealand and several Asian
cities including Singapore. While in
Singapore, Mikosza developed an innovative system to regulate bus traffic. He
spent the next three years in the United
States, where he was a consultant to
telecommunications giant Lucent. While
there, he developed a new architecture
for one of Visa’s major systems. He
returned to Poland in 2001 to devote
himself to MISTER.
Is his gondola-based transport system a
realistic vision or a futuristic utopia?
Mikosza is convinced that automatic personal transport systems like MISTER are a
thing of the future in cities, and in the
future also between cities. The first step
has been made—in Opole. Mikosza plans
to move there soon to supervise preparations for the construction of the system’s
trial section. Construction work is due to
start later this year. “Once we get MISTER
up and running in one city, the rest will be
beating a path to our door,” he says.
Ewa Dereƒ with Micha∏ Jeziorski
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SCIENCE & FINANCE
From Medicine to Black Holes:
HELP FOR SCIENCE
The Foundation for Polish
Science granted zl.300,000
to 12 professors as part of
its Mistrz (Master) program
at a ceremony held in
Warsaw Nov. 22. The grants,
to be paid out in three
zl.100,000 annual installments, are intended to help
the recipients carry out scientific research projects with
their younger colleagues.
ne of the highlights of the ceremony was a lecture from Prof.
Frank Wilczek, an American
with Polish roots, who won the 2004
Nobel Prize for physics. Wilczek
stressed the importance of educational
continuity from one generation to the
next. “Masters who can inspire their students are invaluable and should be
given every support,” he said.
Maciej ˚ylicz, the science foundation’s chairman, said that grants to professors differ in nature from those for
research projects. They do not require a
detailed breakdown of costs or a project
plan. Nor does every single penny have
to be accounted for. “We simply want to
select the best and give them as much
freedom as possible to carry out their
research projects,” he explained.
Thirty percent of the grant is given to
the professors as an individual scholarship
with the rest going to their colleagues,
doctoral and other students, or helping to
cover the costs of attending academic conferences or purchasing equipment.
O
16
Several scientists with innovative
ideas that have practical applications
were among the award recipients. Prof.
Pawe∏ Kafarski, director of the
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry at
the Wroc∏aw University of Technology,
is one of them. He and his team are
busy developing new drugs.
“We are looking for inhibitors, that is,
substances that reduce the catalytic
activity of enzymes,” says Kafarski.
“We focus on enzymes specific to diseases associated with modern civilization—cancer, for example.”
By contrast, Prof. Janusz Ka∏u˝ny
from the Polish Academy of Sciences
and his team are engaged in basic scientific research. They specialize in astronomy—particularly in globular star clusters and binary stars. “Our research,
from the standpoint of industry or
medicine, is absolutely useless,” says
Ka∏u˝ny. “ You could say that it’s more
a hobby than anything else. However,
pure research has always driven scientific development.” He explained that he
and his team are looking for black holes
in globular star clusters, thousands of
stars concentrated in spherical groups. It
is possible that a black hole and a star
form a binary structure, which usually
only happens with two stars.
Wilczek spoke of the challenges confronting modern physics. He believes
that researchers are gaining more insight
into the nature of matter than ever
before. This is why they conduct experiments on elementary particles, the
smallest objects in the universe.
He also mentioned the Large Hadron
Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator
being constructed at the European Center
for Nuclear Research near Geneva. The
LHC is due to start operating in 2008
after 20 years in the making. Many
researchers are hoping the device will
facilitate a lot of scientific breakthroughs.
Wilczek explained that modern
physics was also concerned with the
structure of the universe as well as its
history and its future. Researchers are
also busy working on dark matter and
dark energy. Building a new generation
of computers is yet another major challenge, according to Wilczek. “Today’s
computers are certainly impressive,” he
said. “But if you look at how they’re
constructed, you can still see room for
improvement. Computer processors are
two-dimensional and their manufacture
requires precision tools and sterile conditions. Meanwhile, the most complex
comparable structure, the human brain,
is three-dimensional. It develops all by
itself in a natural setting and is capable
of learning. The challenge facing 21st
century physicists is to develop computers that work more like the human
brain.”
Urszula Rybicka
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
FRANK WILCZEK TALKS TO
THE SCIENCE VOICE.
Do you know, or have you worked
with any Polish scientists?
I certainly know some Polish scientists.
A couple of my MIT [Massachusetts
Institute of Technology] colleagues are of
Polish origin. Just like today, I’m always
meeting and learning about new people.
But I’m mostly familiar with people from
my own field—particle physicists. I’ve
had students and colleagues from Poland
throughout my career.
What do you think about Poland
now? Having visited our country, do
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Page 17
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Patent
T
Protection:
A Long and
Winding Road
A patent is an essential
business tool in today’s
marketplace where the rule
of thumb is that a good
product will always get
copied.
you see a lot of potential for scientific development here?
Absolutely. I last visited Poland in
1995 and it’s a completely different
country now. The rise in prosperity and
the rate of progress is remarkable. So
much has improved in such a short time.
I think Poland is ready to stand on an
equal footing with the rest of Europe.
Obviously, it’s going to take years
to build up the necessary infrastructure and for students to become professors and teach new generations of
scientists. It’s important to have programs like the one we learned about
today. You also need international
contacts but improvements in communications have made this easier than
ever. And of course, Poland is not that
far from where the action is going to
be—the Large Hadron Collider at
CERN in Geneva. This is a great
opportunity to participate in experiments and I know there are groups
from Poland who are already doing
that. The United States is now in
many ways the scientific leader, but
that’s a relatively recent development.
In the early part of the 20th century,
the United States was way behind
Europe. So it can be achieved in a few
decades. I think Poland is on its way.
his affects trademarks as well as
innovative design and technologies. Patent protection is
designed to eliminate copying and unfair
competition.
“The process for registering a patent in
Poland is currently the same as elsewhere
in Europe because our law for the protection of industrial property has had to comply with the European standard ever since
Poland joined the EU,” says Gra˝yna
Padee, a spokeswoman for the Polish
Patent Office. “However, without a doubt
a problem exists in Polish firms’ lack of
understanding of what protection of industrial property means and of its importance.
Because of this lack of understanding,
they are reluctant to embark on what is an
unusually complicated and long procedure
to obtain ownership rights.”
On the bright side, the procedure is now
shorter than a couple of years ago, and this
is thanks to the Patent Office, Padee says.
She adds that many firms do not appreciate the value of intellectual property. “The
real problem appears when someone is
suddenly accused of violating another person’s rights,” Padee says. “It often happens that firms invest significant funds in
a product without checking first if someone else has patented it. Firms do not see
the need for checking whether their proposed new product is already patented and
whether they will be violating other people’s ownership rights in producing it.
There is also a lack of awareness of the
need to protect firms’ own products before
marketing them. It is clear, however, that
the awareness of the whole patent issue
has been improving since 1989.”
Another significant problem is courts’
sluggishness in hearing cases of patent
violations, Padee says. “The whole process takes a long time. There is a need for
a designated patent court. It is easier to get
a patent—bearing in mind the length of
time involved—than it is to get patent
rights upheld.”
The time it takes
Obtaining a patent for new technologies
in Poland takes between four and seven
years, four years being close to the world
norm. The patent must conform to regulations set out in the Paris Convention for
the Protection of Industrial Property. The
system works on a first-come-first-served
basis. The first 18 months of the patent
process is a waiting period for notice of a
similar patent registered in another country and is used to prepare publication.
More time is then needed to allow third
parties to voice potential objections. After
that there is a period of product analysis
and literature research to establish a given
product’s eligibility for a patent.
Every product, however, receives some
protection of ownership rights from the
time of application to the Patent Office
regardless of the length of procedural
time. The cost of a patent in Poland is
zl.500. Some people hire a patent agent to
help them through the process, which
means an additional cost. Prior to getting a
product patent, the applicant receives
intellectual ownership rights.
A global patent
Patents in other countries are usually
more expensive than in Poland. The decision to patent a product abroad must be
based on deep analysis of risk and profitability. Besides countries’ own patent
offices, there is also the European Patent
Office, which acts on notification from
the country in which rights to a given
product are to be protected. Also, 138
countries worldwide have each agreed to
honor any patent registered in any one of
these countries. After a period of twoand-a-half years from patent application,
the applicant must declare in which countries they want to continue to pursue a
patent. These procedures, be they for
European or global patents, are widely
used since they lower the cost of patent
registration.
Wojciech Romanowicz
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EDUCATION
Jagiellonian University:
CRACOW’S ALMA MATER
The Jagiellonian University is not only the oldest but also the best known and
largest institution in Cracow.
he university, established in
1364 by King Casimir the
Great, boasts a long and distinguished history and enjoys an
excellent reputation around the world. It
employs almost 7,000 people and annually teaches 46,000 students. Prof. Karol
Musio∏, a physicist by profession, has
been the university’s head since 2005.
The university has a wealth of not
only personnel but also buildings, which
include five museums, research laboratories and several libraries. The latter
include the famous Jagiellonian Library
with 6.5 million books—from early
printed books and old manuscripts to
contemporary writings. Because of its
sheer size and scale, the university is
likened to a business with a worldwide
recognizable brand. Not only is it
steeped in tradition, but it also has a reputation for valuable discoveries, inven-
T
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EDUCATION
tions and theories. Astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus, at the
height of his career, thanked the
Cracow Academy for all that he
had accomplished.
MANY ROLES
The Jagiellonian University
has played an important part in
the life of Poles and their country, particularly when the country was partitioned among three
neighboring countries in 17951918 and during World War II
when Poland was under
German occupation. The university is very much prominent
in the lives of those who studied
there. It is also renowned for its
scientific discoveries, the
knowledge it passes on to each
new generation and the ties it
has forged with other universities in Poland and abroad.
Government officials from
other countries are frequent visitors to the university and in
particular to its Collegium
Maius, the jewel of Cracow’s
old architecture.
The previous head of the university, Prof. Franciszek
Ziejko, when asked whether he
was apprehensive during dignitaries’ visits to the university,
replied that he was not because
he kept in mind the institution’s
over 600-year history and its
achievements. The latter resulted in the university’s inclusion
in the annals of world science.
Distinguished visitors to the
university have included
Japanese Emperor Akihito;
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II;
Sweden’s King Karol Gustav;
Prince Abdullah, the brother of
the Saudi Arabian king; Prince
Haakon, the next in line to the
Norwegian throne; and presidents and prime ministers from
many countries, including
Chinese leader Hu Jintao.
The Collegium Maius is the
oldest headquarters of any university in central Europe except
for Prague’s. The building
became a place of learning on
July 26, 1400, after it was purchased from the P´cherzów
family.
Poland’s
King
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EDUCATION
Kazimierz Wielki founded the college
with the permission of Pope Urban V.
The university’s name, however, is
associated with the later Jagiellonian
dynasty. The death of King Kazimierz
halted plans to teach law, medicine and
the arts there and it was King
W∏adys∏aw Jagie∏∏o who later resurrected the college with permission from
Pope Boniface IX. The king appointed
Stanis∏aw of Skalbmierz to the first rectorship. Jagie∏∏o’s young wife, Jadwiga,
died prematurely and in her testament
left money, robes and jewels to the college for the purchase of more buildings.
MODERN CAMPUS
One of the Jagiellonian University’s
many heads was Aleksander Koj, a doctor and world-renowned scientist in the
field of biomedicine and medical biochemistry, who held the rectorship for
three consecutive terms until 1998.
The purchase of 44 hectares of land
allowed the building of a modern campus close to the Cracow Technology
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EDUCATION
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EDUCATION
Park, part of the Cracow Special
Economic Zone. “Moreover we planned
to add a 10-story wing to the
Jagiellonian Library to increase its size
to 33,000 square meters,” said Koj. His
successor, Prof. Ziejka, not only successfully completed the library’s expansion in 2001 but supervised the construction, in the center of Cracow, of the
Auditorium Maximum, a facility capable of seating 1,400 people.
The campus certainly modernized the
university and teaching facilities will be
improved still further by the planned
addition by 2010 of another 100,000 sq
m of campus area. In particular, plans
include a new Life Science Park, part of
the Jagiellonian Innovation Center and
an addition to existing biological science facilities.
The Jagiellonian University is experiencing a period of prosperity. It is
expanding both physically and intellectually. Demand for places at the university from both Polish and foreign students is increasing.
WINDS OF HISTORY
The university’s history has its fair
share of dramas. The most galling was
during World War II when German
occupiers under the command of Bruno
Müller summoned 183 Polish professors
to the Collegium Novum building,
arrested them and then deported them to
a concentration camp in Sachsenhausen
near Berlin. Stanis∏aw Estreicher,
Micha∏ Siedlecki, and Ignacy
Chrzanowski, among others, died there.
The professors’ imprisonment was the
first attempt to destroy the Jagiellonian
University. The then German governor,
Hans Frank, dreamed of building a
German university on the ruins of the
Jagiellonian University and went as far
as renaming, in 1941, the Jagiellonian
Library as the Staatsbibliothek Krakau.
But the university not succumb to
German occupation; it started teaching
in secret from 1942. As many as 132
lecturers risked their lives to educate
800 people. One of these was historian
Józef Gierowski, who later became the
university’s head.
The postwar political climate was not
favorable for the university. The communist government strove to control science education in Poland and eroded the
22
autonomy of universities, the centers of
independent thought. The effect on
Cracow’s Alma Mater was the loss, in
1950, of its Medical and Pharmaceutical
Department, which evolved into a
Medical Academy. Two years later the
authorities closed the Geology
Department to make way for a Mining
and Metallurgical Academy. In 1953,
the university saw the replacement of its
Agriculture and Forestry Department
with an Agricultural Academy. The
final act was the closure of the
Theological Department in 1954.
The Jagiellonian University was
weakened for many years by this reorganization and also by lack of financing
for basic requirements. Nevertheless,
the university never stopped striving for
excellence and step by small step
embarked on restoring its reputation. It
balanced mandatory ties with Soviet science with Western contacts. In the
1970s and ‘80s the university created, in
cooperation with the KoÊciuszko
Foundation in New York, a Summer
Culture and Polish Language School. In
this way the university boosted its
awareness among Poles living in the
U.S. and Canada. More foreign students
started to come to Cracow every year.
The year 1993 was also important for
the university. A new medical college,
the Collegium Medicum, swallowed the
Medical Academy and currently educates over 6,000 people, of which a
large number are foreign students.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The university has developed over
many decades and today embraces the
world and new directions with open
arms. Last year the school founded a
Confucius Institute. The university, at the
initiative of Prof. Andrzej Kapiszewski, a
mathematician and sociologist, beat rival
universities worldwide for the right to
create such an institute. Currently, over
300 people are learning Chinese in
Cracow. The university’s International
and Political Studies Department that
includes Middle Eastern and Far Eastern
specializations has also enjoyed popularity for several years. The department produces graduates at all levels in Arabic,
Israeli, Japanese and Chinese studies.
Teresa B´tkowska
All photos: www.uj.edu.pl
EU Funds: E
The European Union’s
Human Resources
operational program
has set aside some
2.7 billion euros to
finance various education projects in
Poland.
he education ministry is responsible for the distribution of some 1
billion euros of this sum. The
money will be used to finance projects
designed to upgrade the education system, improve the external examination
system, and promote lifelong learning.
“Changes to the education system aim
in the first instance to lower the age at
which children start school, which
means a new program for younger children,” says Deputy Education Minister
Krystyna Szumilas, who is responsible
for the financing of Polish schools and
improving the quality of education. This
will be the ministry’s main goal and will
be implemented thanks to EU funding.
The ministry is also seeking to provide
students with a more modern schooling
program and one that ensures more
effective learning.
The ministry wants to lower the
mandatory school age of children and
from 2009 will gradually begin an
intake of six-year-olds. Children in
many European countries start school at
just such an age. Experts say that this
will enhance the children’s chances for
an effective education. However, for
this goal to be met, the schooling program must be changed. Money for this
is to come from the Human Resources
operational program.
T
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EDUCATION
s: EUROS FOR EDUCATION
Better teacher-training
system needed
EU funds will also finance the professional growth of teachers. This is
tied to curriculum changes since
teachers will need courses and training to meet the demands of the new
schooling program. The ministry will
work to upgrade the teacher-training
system. Moreover, the ministry will
strive to improve supervision over the
quality of education in schools. Above
all, it plans to make the examination
system more effective in that it will
provide data on the level of education
in different schools or at different
stages of a child’s schooling. The
work of school superintendents’
offices must also improve. EU funds
will also serve to create a specific
database for scientific research results
linked to education. “Above all this
means that other scientists will be able
to take advantage of research results
from the education sector,” says
Szumilas.
Learning at any age
The European Union has mandated
its member countries to offer education
opportunities to its citizens throughout
their lives. The EU has also earmarked
funds for this purpose. This goal is
achievable only with integration of the
formal education system with informal
methods of learning such as qualifications gained by people already in work.
Poland will concentrate its efforts on
the removal of barriers and to tailor
regulations in such a way so as to give
Poles access to education opportunities
throughout their lives. Currently, this
system does not work well. For example, only a person who studied at a
technical college is eligible for a technician’s certificate. Meanwhile, there
are many people in Poland who have
Regional agendas
Szumilas: Children to start school earlier
learned technical skills in jobs but who
do not have the opportunity to formally
register their skill set.
Experts and businesspeople who
have difficulties in finding suitably
qualified workers criticize the quality
of vocational education in Poland. The
ministry wants vocational education to
have closer links with the job market
and this would be the responsibility of
regional authorities. Poland’s
provinces will also have access to EU
funding to improve their education
systems.
Regional governments will have at
their disposal the second tranche of the
Human Resources operational program, or some 1.7 billion euros. The
ministry will not dictate how these
funds should be spent. The money can
be used, for example, to finance additional activities for children at the end
of their school day, to increase the
number of preschools or to offer alternative methods of preschooling.
Different regions in Poland may have
very different education strategies.
Some provinces prioritize the creation
of new preschools. Others want to
expand vocational training facilities.
The majority of regions are organizing
competitions for projects that can be
financed with EU funding. Independent
organizations, for example, that work in
conjunction with local authorities and
firms, are eligible to compete.
The provinces can quite freely spend
EU funding on education. They must,
however, adhere to the condition
imposed by the Human Resource operational program that forbids the cofinancing of infrastructure projects. The
program funding cannot be used for the
repair of school buildings or the building of new gyms. The funds must be
used solely for educational purposes.
There are, however, other EU funds
available for sports infrastructure in
schools and districts. The Sports
Ministry manages these. Such funding
supports a project that calls for the construction of “a sports field in every district,” as promised by Prime Minister
Donald Tusk in his policy speech shortly after coming to power. The Sports
Ministry also plans to spend available
funds on sports activities for young people and to promote sport.
For the building of new schools and
the repair of school buildings regional
authorities can earmark funds from the
EU’s regional programs. The goal of
these programs is to develop specific
provinces in various sectors. Many
regional authorities see the need for
investment in education and thus,
besides building new roads and sewerage works, decide to support preschools,
schools and institutions of higher education.
Urszula Rybicka
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Page 24
RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS
Polish Polar Station Turns 50
The Arctic and the Antarctic are usually associated with long polar nights, freezing temperatures, lots of snow and dangerous expeditions. Anyone who sets foot
here can expect both beauty and adventure. This region is usually lit up solely by
the moon and stars during the polar night and only then if the weather permits.
But the northern lights occasionally illuminate the landscape which can make for
a spectacular sight.
pitsbergen is the largest island of
the Svalbard archipelago in the
Arctic Sea. Most Poles here are scientists, technicians or temporary construction workers who have come here to conduct research and exploration, although
the occasional tourist can be found.
The Hornsund Polish Polar Station is
a research center located in southern
Spitsbergen and run by the Institute of
Geophysics at the Polish Academy of
Sciences (PAN). This home away from
home for polar explorers, scientists and
adventure travelers is now celebrating
its 50th birthday. Norway administers
the Svalbard archipelago under the
Spitsbergen Treaty signed in Paris by
nine nations in 1920.
Poland became a signatory in 1931.
Poles have been exploring both polar
regions since the 19th century. Poland,
along with 43 other countries, took part
in joint scientific research during the
International Polar Year (IPY) of 193233. The State Meteorological Institute
carried out an expedition, financed by
the Polish government together with
several Polish and Western European
sponsors, to Bear Island, some 220 km
south of Spitsbergen. The purpose of the
expedition was to collect meteorological, ionospheric, geomagnetic and seismologic data. These are still the main
subjects of scientific research conducted
in the Arctic, along with geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, seismology,
and biological fieldwork.
Three staff members spent the entire
winter of 1932-33 on Bear Island so that
research could continue unabated
throughout the polar night. These were
Czes∏aw Centkiewicz, W∏adys∏aw
S
24
¸ysakowski and Stanis∏aw Siedlecki.
Siedlecki later became a distinguished
scientist in Poland and Norway. The
Spitsbergen station was named after him
to honor his role in establishing a permanent research base there.
Centkiewicz also became a researcher
and an adventurer whose accounts of
the excitement and the hardships of life
in the Arctic and Antarctica caught the
public imagination.
Stanis∏aw Bernadzikiewicz led subsequent expeditions in 1934, 1936 and
1938. The 1936 expedition crossed
Spitsbergen from south to north, covering 850 km. The Polish Academy of
Sciences (PAN) joined the third
International Geophysical Year which
was held in lieu of the IPY in 1956. A
reconnaissance team surveyed
Spitsbergen in August and selected the
future site for the station at Polar Bear
Bay (Isbjørhamna) in Hornsund fjord.
The Founding Group, comprising construction workers, dozens of scientists
from various Polish research institutions
and a group that was to spend the winter
at the station, set out in two ships in
July 1957.
You need to be adaptable if you are
going to live in the Arctic. Everyone,
even university presidents and PAN
members, helped build the research
facility. Construction was supervised by
architect Jerzy Piotrowski and carpenter
Tadeusz Pajàk. This time, there was a
winter crew of 10 that included expedition leader Stanis∏aw Siedlecki,
Stanis∏aw Baranowski and Maciej
Zalewski. Zalewski later headed the
Department of Polar and Marine
Research at the Institute of Geophysics.
There were only three summer expeditions over the following 12 years, and
Hornsund was used by a Norwegian
trapper between 1961 and 1971.
Summer expeditions resumed in 1970.
The station was rebuilt and extended in
1978 and has been operating continuously ever since. The Henryk Arctowski
Polish Antarctic Station had already
been set up at on the South Shetland
island of King George in February 1977.
A new expedition sets out for
Hornsund every year. This year’s expedition is the 30th and there are nine men in
the winter crew. The station works with
various research expeditions from Polish
universities. Members usually sleep in
huts on southern Spitsbergen, but the station can also serve as a shelter. The PAN
Institute of Oceanology is one of the
institutions that works with the station.
Their expeditions set sail for Hornsund in
a modern research vessel named Oceania
and can only dock when the weather and
ice floes let them. The ongoing fourth
IPY of 2007-08 has required a further
extension and upgrade so as to accommodate the large number of researchers.
Exploring the polar regions has
always been fraught with danger, and
new ways to survive the harsh environment are constantly being devised.
Conditions for the first people who
stayed here were Spartan in the extreme.
Nowadays Hornsund has modern
telecommunications facilities and even
the internet. Coastal summers are bearable with average temperatures of
around 6ºC. Inland, though, it’s a different story with steep hills, rough stones,
mountain glaciers and the muddy,
gravely moraines they have left behind.
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RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS
People are taller than the local shrubbery so there are no trees to climb or
hide behind whenever polar bears come
foraging. These magnificent creatures
are a protected species so while they do
not balk at attacking humans, killing
one of them will invariably result in an
official inquiry. Nature here is fragile,
and for this reason the international
community will not allow the Arctic to
be colonized.
The Arctic is a wonderful place, despite
all the hardships and a need for constant
vigilance that requires being armed at all
times. Everyone who comes to this fascinating but unforgiving environment is left
with a lifelong yearning for its wide open
spaces and the enchanting nature that
makes it so different from those lands
inhabited by humans. Even the hardships,
and the individual and collective struggles for survival are missed. Every polar
expeditionist becomes part of the history
of this wild and untamable land.
Story and photos by Krzysztof Teisseyre
Institute of Geophysics,
Polish Academy of Sciences
Southern Spitsbergen: Ice is nice
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Page 26
IN BRIEF
Poland’s Oldest
Chess Set Unearthed
Archeologists found a chess set dating
from the turn of the 11th century in
Sandomierz in the southeast of Poland.
The finding is the oldest to date and
comprises almost a complete set of
chessmen and pawns. “This is one of
the most spectacular finds of a medieval
chess set,” says Agnieszka Stempin, an
archeologist from the Archeological
Museum in Poznaƒ.
The chess pieces are carved from deer
antlers in Arabic design. The set no
doubt came to Europe with Muslim
invaders and thus Europeans first discovered chess in its Arab form. The
chess pieces are different from Western
designs because the Koran forbids the
depiction of living beings. The Arabs
brought the game from India and
replaced figures with abstract objects.
For example, the elephant, the modernday bishop, in the Arabic version is a
cylinder with two projections representing tusks. Chess is a royal game. This
set, however, was found in a mud hut in
an artisan village. According to archeologists, chess was a very popular game
among all social classes in the Middle
Ages.
Besides the Sandomierz discovery,
archeologists have found a total of some
30 medieval chess pieces in Poland dating from the end of the 11th century to
the 15th century. The sites include
Wroc∏aw, Gniezno, Kruszwica and
Warsaw.
DNA Testing:
Teutonic Knights Under
Scrutiny
Polish scientists will examine the
DNA of human skeletons found eight
months ago in the Cathedral of John the
Evangelist in the northern city of
Kwidzyn. The remains most probably
belong to two famous 14th-century
Teutonic knights, Werner von Orseln
and Ludolf Koenig. Prof. Henryk Witas
from the Medical University of ¸ódê
will be in charge of the analysis of two
molars, one from each of the two sculls.
Scientists, in truth, do not possess any
other Teutonic DNA and therefore will
26
not be able to confirm the identity of the
remains. The DNA testing, however,
will provide much data, such as susceptibility to certain diseases and ethnic
origin, which could aid identification.
Werner von Orseln was one of the
Teutonic Knights’ grand masters
between 1324 and 1330. Ludolf Koenig
ruled between 1342 and 1345. During
their lifetimes, Kwidzyn was the
region’s diocesan capital, and dignitaries, including those of the Teutonic
Order, were buried in the town’s cathedral. The skeletons were discovered in
May last year in the cathedral’s crypt
under the presbytery. The find includes
distinctive coat fastenings and garment
pieces made from silk that was very
expensive in the Middle Ages. This suggests that the remains belong to
Teutonic nobles. The examination of the
wood from the coffins also supports this
thesis. Test results, published in midJanuary this year, confirm that the timber used in the coffins was felled in the
14th century.
Should scientists prove that the
remains are indeed of Teutonic origin,
the find will be of huge European significance. Nowhere in Europe has anyone to date found the remains of the
highest-placed nobles of the Teutonic
Order.
A Drug to Cure
Sanfilippo Disease
A team of Polish scientists led by
Prof. Grzegorz W´grzyn from Gdaƒsk
University has developed a drug to
combat Sanfilippo disease. It is a unique
drug because no one in the world has to
date been successful in containing the
disease never mind reversing it.
Nevertheless, the results of the first clinical trials are optimistic. The drug contains genistein, which is found in soybeans and is produced in extract form in
Poznaƒ. In a purely chemical form,
genistein is used in laboratory testing at
Warsaw’s Pharmaceutical Institute.
Sanfilippo disease is a serious, wasting illness that can lead to death.
Around the world, one in 40,000100,000 children are affected at birth by
this rare genetic disease, which disables
the nervous system. The disease is characterized by three stages. During the
first stage, just after birth, a child shows
no symptoms. After several months or
sometimes even several years, the
child’s brain stops functioning properly
and the child is hyperactive and/or
aggressive. The child may stop sleeping,
talking or reacting to stimuli. At the
third stage the nervous system is so
damaged that signals from the brain do
not reach the child’s organs. It stops
swallowing and breathing.
After the drug’s first clinical trial,
there should be second and third trials
with the use of placebos in a doubleblind experiment. Only then would it be
possible for the Polish drug to be distributed around the world. The team,
however, lacks funds and needs financial support from pharmaceutical companies.
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Page 27
IN BRIEF
Ultraviolet Radiometer
from Katowice
Nanobiodetector
from Poznaƒ
Poland’s Central Mining Institute in
Katowice (GIG) has developed a
radiometer with a laser range finder to
measure ultraviolet emissions in the
workplace. The radiometer (see photo)
received acclaim at an invention fair in
Nuremberg. It measures the strength of
ultraviolet radiation in the workplace,
particularly in instances of short periods
of exposure such as during the welding
of car components. A team from the
Laser Technology Laboratory belonging
to the Institute’s Department for
Technical Acoustics, Laser Technology
and Radiometry created the radiometer
under the guidance of Henryk Passia.
The radiometer is comprised of a head to
detect ultraviolet radiation that utilizes
an optical laser range finder, which can
accurately measure the distance from the
head to the radiation source and data
recorder. A laptop computer with the aid
The European Space Agency and various aerospace businesses are interested in
a Polish prototype of a nanobiodetector
for the detection of live microorganisms.
The prototype is the result of many years’
work by scientists from the Adam
Mickiewicz University in Poznaƒ, who
are currently cooperating with Poznaƒ’s
Karol Marcinkowski University of
Medical Sciences. The nanobiodetector is
a miniature sensor that is able to detect a
variety of cells, including bacterial ones,
in sample matter under analysis. The process takes just some 30 seconds and can
be applied in space capsules. The latter
need to be clear of any bacterial flora to
ensure minimal microbiological contamination of the cosmic environment.
The nanobiodetector is easy to use,
cheap to produce and very small. The
element that does the actual detection
work is the size of a pinhead.
The SphinX will be attached to the
Russian Koronas Photon satellite to be
launched in June 2008 from Plesetsk
Cosmodrome near Arkhangelsk. The
satellite will orbit the globe once every
95 minutes at a height of 500 kilometers.
The SphinX has successfully passed a
succession of trials, says Dr. Jaros∏aw
Bàka∏a from the Department of Solar
Physics. The apparatus underwent thermalvacuum, acoustic, excessive-load, resonance, vibration and transportation tests. It
is a component of the Russian Tessis apparatus designed by Moscow’s Physics
Institute to measure X-rays and ultraviolet
radiation emitted by the Sun by an orbiting
solar observatory. The part played by
Wroc∏aw researchers in the Koronas
Photon mission is on similar principles to
those of previous experiments. The Poles
will cover the cost of the construction, testing and software of the SphinX. The
Russians, on their part, will launch the
satellite into orbit and enable the remote
measuring of data and control of the apparatus in orbit.
New Species of Parasite
Discovered
of specialized software processes the
data. Thus knowing the number of times
per day a given operation is undertaken,
a person’s total exposure to ultraviolet
radiation is calculable. On the basis of
this information, it is known how long a
worker can perform a given task without
health risk. It is also possible with the
use of filters to estimate workers’ exposure to biological doses of ultraviolet
radiation.
Solar Photometer
from Wroc∏aw
The SphinX, or Solar Photometry in
X-rays, is a multi-channel X-ray photometer that enables the precise measurement of X-rays emitted by the Sun
over a period of time. The Department
of Solar Physics of the Polish Academy
of Sciences’ Space Research Center in
Wroc∏aw is responsible for the design.
Scientists have discovered a new
species of invertebrate parasite in the
Wroc∏aw area. The parasite lives in the
bile ducts of the red vole but is not hazardous for people. After 18 months of
research, the scientists confirmed that
the invertebrate, Brachylecithum glareoli, of a type that lives within the organism of its host, was earlier unknown.
The Wroc∏aw area is to date the only
place this parasite is to be found.
Brachylecithum glareoli is several
millimeters long. The scientists found it
on land belonging to the Wroc∏aw
waterworks and sewerage company.
The land is 1,026 hectares in area and
has 63 ponds. Scientists agree that it is
the most unique and least polluted area
in the vicinity of the city.
“The discovery of a new species is a rare
occurrence, particularly in Europe, since
most often new invertebrates are found in
South America or Africa,” said Prof. Anna
Okulewicz, who heads the Parasitology
Department of Wroc∏aw University’s
Genetics and Microbiology Institute.
compiled by Tadeusz Belerski
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