Cooperation of Alsace and Poland to restore the dignity of Jan Czochralski

Abstract

Jan Czochralski, a Polish scientist and inventor, is cited today more often than Marie Sklodowska-Curie or Nicolas Copernicus. His method of crystal growth, which is named the "Czochralski method" after him, has played an extremely important role in the development of electronics and informatics. However, recognition of his valuable contributions was delayed by a resolution signed in December 1945 by a group of professors of Warsaw's University of Technology Senate, who accused him unfairly of Nazi collaboration and had him expulsed from the university. In this way, his name and work lingered in darkness in Poland for tens of years. In order to restore the dignity of this great Pole, a number of efforts had to be undertaken, some of them being more or less unusual. One of these aspects concerning an informal role of Alsace and Strasbourg in this endeavor will be described in the article.