Wacław Szybalski (1921–2020)

Abstract

ska). In 1945 he obtained diploma of chemical engineering from Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice and PhD in 1949 from Gda ń sk University of Technology. He left Poland in 1949, first for Denmark and later USA. From 1951–1955 Wac ł aw Szybalski joined the famous Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, as a Staff Member. From 1960 to 2003 he has position of Professor of Oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research of the University of Wiscon- sin-Madison, USA. Prof. Wac ł aw Szybalski published over 260 scientific papers, covering many areas of biology, including bacterial genetics, mechanisms of drug resistance and radiosensitization, mutagenesis, multi-drug therapy, molecular biology of bacteriophages, particularly phage lambda, genetic engineering, gene therapy, synthetic biology and DNA biochemistry/sequencing. Prof. Wac ł aw Szy-balski retired in 2003, and held the rank of Emeritus Professor of Oncology and of Genetics since then. During all years in USA Wac ł aw Szybalski relations with Poland, especially Gda ń sk remained very strong. He was a Mentor of several Polish postdocs. Prof. Wac ł aw Szybalski received many science awards over the years, was a Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Polish Academy of Art and Sciences. In 2011, he received the highest honor awarded in Poland, becoming a Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta, First Class, presented by President of Poland Bronis ł aw Komorowski. He has also received five honorary doctorates from leading universities in Poland.