WŁADYSŁAW EGNER I got to know professor Michał Życzkowski in ...

WŁADYSŁAW EGNER
I got to know professor Michał Życzkowski in 1986, when I was a
freshmen at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Cracow University of
Technology. The professor introduced himself as the tutor of the applied
mechanics specialization.
In 1990, I attended professor Życzkowski’s classes on “Stability and
Optimization". It was a difficult monographic lecture with a large number of
quotations. Already at that time, I was astounded by the professor’s knowledge
of names of authors and dates of various publications. Anyway, later on, during
conferences, I witnessed many times the admiration inspired by this knowledge.
From these lectures, I also remember summaries of lectures in English – an
uncommon practice at that time.
After defending my Master’s thesis in 1991, I started to work as an
assistant lecturer at the Unit of Mechanics of Deformable Bodies in the Institute
of Mechanics and Machine Construction. Professor Życzkowski almost
immediately engaged me in the scientific research he was carrying out at the
time. These were works related to the optimum shape of structures undergoing
total softening at the stage of destruction. Later on, I was worked on this subject
area for many years and my doctoral dissertation – written under the supervision
of the professor – referred to it.
Scientific work with professor Życzkowski involved constant aid on the
part of the professor, consisting in very frequent meetings and suggestions
concerning the directions of further works. I was always fascinated by the
professor’s conviction that an analysed issue has a solution that can be found.
For it was not that obvious as the problems we were dealing with were solved
analytically.
I am the last (twenty ninth) doctor promoted by the professor. During
graduation ceremonies for the doctoral degrees, the vice-chancellor of the
Cracow University of Technology – while reading the name of the supervisor of
my thesis and mine – called him a ”Tutor of Young People”, as if to sum up the
professor’s activity in this domain. This became embedded in my memory for
the following years and it seems to convey well the professor’s attitude towards
young scientists. He was in fact a tutor of young research personnel.
The professor also astonished with his skill of performing complex
calculations. He often wrote, after a moment’s thought, an equation that was to
reflect some impromptu assumptions. The, he suggested we should verify it in
writing, which required quite some time, while the final result was identical as
the equation predicted by the professor.
Every Tuesday at 11 a.m., the professor held a seminar, to which he often
invited lecturers from outside of the Institute. Lecturers presenting their future
doctoral or postdoctoral dissertations were also invited to the seminar that was
obligatory for the fifth year students of applied mechanics (later renamed to

computational mechanics). Almost always, the professor suggested to lecturers
at least several different titles on the relevant subject that he usually quoted from
memory and indicated those he had in his library and those that can be borrowed
from the university library.
Professor Życzkowski marked out the path of my research career and he
was a true Master for me. He was not only a very respected scientist. He had an
exceptional gift of sharing his knowledge and ideas with others. His departure
from among us left a huge gap not only in the domain of scientific research.
Dr Władysław Egner
Cracow University of Technology