Marek Kuchciński
The Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland

Warsaw, 15 April 2016

Esteemed Marshal,

The meeting of Delegates of the Polish Physical Society held on September 8, 2016 during the 43rd Convention of Polish Physicists decided to issue a request to the Parliament of the Republic of Poland concerning the announcement of the year of 2017 as Marian Smoluchowski Year. I kindly request for support for this initiative.

Marian Smoluchowski was one of the most prominent Polish physicists of the turn of the 19th and the 20th century, a professor of the Jagiellonian University, a pioneer and a discoverer of laws of statistical physics, a scientist of supreme expertise, who exerted enduring influence on physics worldwide. In 1936 his merits were the President of the Republic of Poland and the physicist received post mortem the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

It is worth quoting Albert Einstein’s words from the obituary after Marian Smoluchowski’s death:

Fate has cut off his fruitful work as a researcher and a teacher too early … we shall, however, continue to esteem his example and his work.

The meeting of Delegates of the Polish Physical Society believe that announcing Marian Smoluchowski Year by the Polish Parliament is the most adequate form of appreciation for the distinguished Pole’s work and merits. 

In the attachment, I am sending the full text of the resolution passed during the meeting of Delegates of the Polish Physical Society on September 8, 2016 during the Convention of Polish Physicists in Kielce and a biographical note to present the prominence and the contributions of Marian Smoluchowski.

Sincerely yours,

prof. dr hab. Katarzyna Chałasińska-Macukow
the President of the Polish Physical Society