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Tadeusz Glowiak (1935-2003)

[Glowiak]

Tadeusz Głowiak, Polish crystallographer and chemist, passed away in his home on February 25, 2003, at the age of 68. Born in 1935 in Luka (presently the Ukraine) and as a child he witnessed the cruelty of the Second World War. His entire academic career was associated with the Wrocław U., starting in 1959, when he joined the group of Bogusława Jeowska-Trzebiatowska. In 1961/1962 he visited the Moscow U. to study crystallography in the group of Mikhail A. Porai-Koshits. Having returned to Wrocław he obtained his PhD in 1967 and next his DSc in 1978. His early works pioneered the application of x-ray single crystal analysis to problems of co-ordination chemistry in Poland. In the 60’s and 70’s he organized the Polish Schools of Crystallography with the most prominent crystallographers in the world as lecturers. At this time, especially in 60’s, this was the only way to maintain a contact with modern methods and developments in crystallography. In 1973 he obtained the first four-circle diffractometer (Syntex P21) in Central Europe. From 1978 until his death he was head of the Crystallography Dept in the Inst. of Chemistry and then the Faculty of Chemistry of our University. In his group, six PhD students completed their theses. The laboratory directed by him was eagerly opened for international collaboration. Scientists from Vietnam, Ukraine, Slovakia and Bohemia took advantage of his ample hospitality. From 1987-1993 he was a vice-director of the Inst. of Chemistry. For several years he was a member of Committee of Crystallography of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Prof. Głowiak published more than 360 original papers. Most of them presented results of studies on co-ordination compounds. The latest issue of the Cambridge Crystallographic Database contains 395 structures associated with his name. These numbers will be even greater because Prof. Głowiak left many more results to be published. He received important Polish honours and awards and in 2002 the National U. of Lviv (Ukraine) conferred upon him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

With Prof. Głowiak’s untimely death, the Polish community of crystallographers and chemists suffers the loss of not only an experienced and eminent scientist but also a man with great spirit and rich personality.

Z. Ciunik, L. Jerzykiewicz, A. Kochel, M. Kubiak, T. Lis, Z. Olejnik, W. Sawka-Dobrowolska, P. Starynowicz