Professor Wacław Szybalski on Lwów, Genes, the Essence of Life, and Nobel Laureates

Opis

Professor Wacław Szybalski on Lwów, Genes, the Essence of Life, and Nobel Laureates

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego

Autor: Jarosław Abramow-Newerly

Many people have contributed to the publication of this book: its protagonist, Professor Waclaw Szybalski, who has amazed us with his splendid memory and his concern for detail, both when describing people — members of his family and his many friends and colleagues in science — as well as places and events; Jaroslaw Abramow-Newerly and his wife Wanda, who conducted and recorded many interviews with members of the Professor’s family and his friends; and Irena Frączek — the colleague and friend of Professor — who supplemented the recollections recorded by the book’s author and supplied photographs and notes.

The idea of the book, which dates from 2010, and the proposal that Jaroslaw Abramow-Newerly write it, came from Dr. Jerzy Barankiewicz, founder and president of the Polish Arts Salon in San Diego. The Professor Waclaw Szybalski Foundation undertook to publish the book, which describes the full life and enormous scientific achievements of one of the most outstanding Polish scientists. Professor Szybalski left Poland in 1949, but as a Pole and a citizen of Lwow he has always supported Polish science. For his services to science, he has received honorary doctorates from five Polish higher-educational institutions, and in 2011, the President of the Republic of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

Prof. Ewa Łojkowska, president of the board

of the Professor Wadaw Szybalski Foundation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE (Jerzy Barankiewicz) · 9
INTRODUCTION · 13
Chapter 1. THE EARLY YEARS IN LWÓW · 17
The welcoming home of the Szybalski family · 17
Two great families meet · 31
The era of grandfather Rakowski · 39
Children of Lwów’s Merry Wave · 40
Wacek was no grind · 54
Look at Szybalski soar! · 60
Always upward! · 63
Big brother, little brother · 66
Best in everything · 70
At president Moscicki’s · 76
Chapter 2. THE TRAGEDY OF TWO OCCUPATIONS · 83
A dispute over the shininess of a townhouse · 83
The siege of Lwów · 88
Don’t join the party and don’t steal too much! · 91
The lice here are the best, Mr. Khrushchev! · 97
The Stalin scholarship · 102
Yeast have sex · 106
A private power plant · 110
I worked for Professor Weigl · 114
The expedition to Beł™ec · 123
Chapter 3. IN A NEW HOME
WITH TWO LOAVES OF BLACK BREAD · 129
A unique diploma · 129
Nothing behind the wardrobe · 136
High in the mountains · 143
Give me back my family signet ring · 145
Horses at the Gdansk University of Technology · 149
Chapter 4. NOT TO GET CUT OFF
FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD · 165
We are standing on the shoulders of giants · 165
The ministerial aunt · 172
Iron bacteria behind the iron curtain · 181
Bohr and the PhD · 189
A visa in ten years · 194
Chapter 5. SPREADING HIS WINGS · 201
The phage church · 201
Hats off, gentlemen! · 211
Is this the Szybalski who criticized me? · 222
Please, spare me the sermon! · 225
Wacław, come at once! · 228
Let us laugh and look into each other’s eyes · 233
Chapter 6. THE WHIMS OF THE GREATEST · 237
I dreamed of having such a beautiful manor · 237
The “arrest” in Rotterdam and the wedding · 245
Pohulanka in Bound Brook–Martinsville · 252
The Polish reality of 1958 · 255
You don’t say no to a Nobel laureate · 259
Chapter 7. TO BE AHEAD OF YOUR TIME · 271
Forty kilometers to the Polish border · 271
At the border of scientific fantasy · 279
Two periods in biology · 292
Chapter 8. SOLDIER ON TOWARD THE GOAL · 295
The red, white and blue spine of Gene · 295
Loyal to the masters of his youth · 312
A dance with Meryl Streep · 319
Dad has four “granddoghters” · 322
Chapter 9. TO HAVE AN IDEA FOR EVERYONE · 331
Scientific avarice · 331
We were beaten by the liver · 342
Generosity to rival that of an industrialist · 352
You must be mentally resilient! · 358
Chapter 10. I AM AN ENGINEER FROM LWÓW · 365
A presentation in a surgical cap · 365
In Poland with Watson · 369
An engineer from Lwów · 384
MEETINGS WITH PROFESSOR SZYBALSKI · 391
In the footsteps of Professor Szybalski (Magdalena Gierszewska) · 391
Those Lwów genes (Irena Fraczek) · 399
ANNEX
List of most significant publications · 423
INDEX OF PERSONS · 459