WRỐBLESKI, Zygmunt Florenty

After graduating from the gymnasium in Hrodna in 1862, W. began studying at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of St. Vladimir in Kiev. In 1863, he took part in the January Uprising, where he was arrested and exiled to Russia. After 6 years in captivity, he tried to educate himself further and became a guest student at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin.
Afterwards he worked as an assistant to Philipp Gustav von Jolly at the University of Munich. There he published his first scientific treatise Research into Electrical Stimulation with the Help of Mechanical Aids, which was acknowledged as a dissertation. Then he became an assistant to August Kundt in Straßburg. Together they researched the field of gas diffusion. With this work, W. habilitated as a university teacher. In 1880, W. received a scholarship from the Krakow Academy of Sciences, which enabled him to visit London, Oxford, and Cambridge, and also sufficed for the continuation of the research into the properties of gases under the guidance of H. Debray at Ecolé Normalé Superiéure in Paris. At that time, while using his own devices, W. discovered carbon dioxide hydrate crystal (CO28H2O), and defined its structure.
In 1882, he returned to Krakow, where he took over the Chair of Physics at the Jagiellonian University. In 1883, he met Karol Stanisław →Olszewski and began to research liquid air. In April 1883, they succeeded in liquefying the so-called permanent gases (oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide) in a static state. To do so, they used a device constructed and modified by Louis Caillet, and used ethylene carbon dioxide as coolant. They thus contributed significantly to the kinetic theory of matter.
In addition, W. determined the density, temperature, and heat of liquefied oxygen, and unsuccessfully conducted experiments on hydrogen liquefaction. On this occasion, he succeeded in condensing nitrogen, which was afterwards used as a coolant.
In 1884, he succeeded in liquefying hydrogen in a dynamic state. In 1883, he was chosen as a member of the scientific committee of the international electrotechnical exhibition in Vienna, where he worked with Ludwig →Boltzmann, Franz Serafin Exner, Ernst →Mach, and A. Strouhalm.