Professor Henryk Korwin-Krukowski (1860–1937)

Rector for the 1930–1931 term of office
Metallurgy

He was born in Myzie-Saki (today in Belarus). He graduated from the Mining Institute in Saint Petersburg. Initially, he worked in the Russian industry; since 1914, he began working in professional courses in Warsaw. He was one of the founding members of the Warsaw University of Technology. Senior lecturer of metals technology and a head of the Institute of Metallurgy of the Warsaw UoT.

In 1920, he was appointed professor and organiser of the Faculty of Metallurgy at the Mining Academy in Krakow. In 1921, he began giving lectures on metallography and metal heat treatment. Although he refused to accept the position of dean of the Faculty of Metallurgy, as its organiser and, initially, the only metallurgist among the Academy’s professors, he was, in fact, the real head of the faculty.

In the years 1925–1929, he held the position of vice-dean. He took an active part in the proceedings of a committee appointed to coordinate the expansion of the Faculty of Metallurgy. For his contributions to Polish metallurgy and his input in the organisation of the Faculty of Metallurgy, he received from the President of the Republic of Poland, Ignacy Mościcki, the title of Honorary Professor of the Mining Academy, awarded for the first time in the academy’s history (1934). He collaborated with numerous technical associations, sat on the committee dealing with technical vocabulary (ANT), and edited the metallurgy column in Przegląd Górniczo-Hutniczy.

His academic achievement was published only partially; the rest remained in the form of notes and records. In his papers, he focused on iron ores, the functioning of the great furnace, coal coking, and Damascus steel. Professor Korwin-Krukowski died in Warsaw.