BRONIEWSKI, Witold

From 1900 to 1901, B. studied at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of St. Petersburg. He continued his studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. After he concluded his studies there in 1904, he moved to Nancy (France), where he took up the study of electromechanics, which he also successfully concluded in 1908. At that time, he dedicated his scientific research to the connection between electrical resistance and the neutral behaviour of metals during heating, especially during melting. He began his scientific research, in which he measured the electrical resistance of alkali metals, gallium and tellurium, in Nancy, in a laboratory owned by A. Guntz. In 1911, he finished his study at the Faculty of Physical Sciences, which was a part of the Sorbonne in Paris. He carried out his specialisation under the famous metallographist Henri Le Chatelier, by researching the electrical and thermoelectrical properties of the aluminium alloys Al-Zn, Al-Sn, Al-Bi, Al-Mg, Al-Ag, Al-Cu. During his research, he determined the structure of these alloys by determining the borders of the solid solutions and the composition of the intermetallic bonds within them. When photographing these structures, he used the filiation method, which became his speciality. In 1911, he wrote his doctoral thesis Untersuchungen über elektrische Eigenschaften der Aluminiumlegierungen (Research on the Electrical Properties of Aluminium Alloys). He obtained the title doctor of physical sciences at the Sorbonne with the highest decoration „mention trés honorable”. He was awarded for the above-mentioned research in 1910 by the Paris Academy of Sciences with the Alhumbert Prize and the Berthollet Medal. Together with Henri Le Chatelier, B. worked on a method of photographic perception of data that change according to temperature, which enabled the drawing of diagrams that depicted the changes in the electrical properties of different alloys, bearing in mind their composition and structure. In 1912, B. resided in Lwow (today Lviv in Ukraine), where he received his doctorate at the Technical College. The Jagiellonian University, where he also obtained the title doctor of philosophy, accredited this title. In 1913/14, he conducted research in Paris in the laboratory of Marie →Skłodowska Curie and lectured on metallography at the Sorbonne. At that time, he wrote his monograph on copper alloys; he was also researching the transition of austenite to martensite, when deeply cooled. In 1918/19, B. served as a volunteer in the Polish army in France. He returned to his homeland in 1919, where he was given the post of associate professor at the Technical College in Lwow, where he lectured on metallography and on the encyclopedia of mechanical engineering. In 1920, he was appointed full professor of metallurgy at the Technical College in Warsaw, and head of the Metallurgical Institute. He occupied both positions until his death. In the 1920s, he was mostly engaged in didactics and the organisation of scientific work. In 1921, he published the world-famous textbook The Basics of Metallography, in which he discussed the main issues of metallography and described the research methods in this field. In 1929, he published the work Exercises in and Works on Metallography - a textbook for scientists and students, which was also translated into French and Russian. Upon his return to research, he continued his work with the structures of the alloys Sb-Sn, Sb-Pb, Cu-Sn, Cu-Zn, Cu-Ag, Fe-Ni, Au-Cu, Ni-Co. He also researched the physical and mechanical properties of the alloys Ag-Au, Al-Si, Al-Li, Cu-Sn, Cu-Mn, Cu-Al, Al-Cu, Zn-Al, Al-Mg, and Ni-Cu. Among other things, he was also occupied with writing down the diagrams of the solubility of the alloys Cu-Zn, Cu-Sn, Al-Zn, Cu-Al, and the magnetic susceptibility of the alloys Au-Cu, Au-Ag, Ag-Cu, Cu-Ni. His research into alloys was of great importance to the industry of motor vehicles and aeroplanes. B. is considered a pioneer in the field of metallurgy in Poland, particularly so in the fields of technical alloys, and the physical and mechanical properties of steel or highly pure steel. B. was one of the founders of the Academy of Technical Sciences in Warsaw. From 1928 to 1930, he was its secretary-general, an active member of the Lwow Scientific Society, and a full member of the Warsaw Scientific Society.