A Polish Physicist Visits Glasgow: Marian Smoluchowski’s Depictions of Scotland

Abstract

The paper discusses selected essays by Marian Smoluchowski (1872–1917), a 19th-century Polish physicist. Smoluchowski’s scientifi c output was outstanding (he was a pioneer of stochastic physics); apart from science, however, he was a passionate mountaineer. Smoluchowski enjoyed travelling, one of the places he visited being Scotland. He described it in his essays, e.g. “Wycieczki górskie w Szkocji” (1896), which will be discussed here. Smoluchowski’s visions and impressions of Scotland are also placed against the backdrop of selected other 19th-century Polish travellers who visited and wrote about Scotland.