Polish scientists authored the most famous inventions and breakthroughs that changed our lives. Five volumes, over 2,400 pages containing 1,300 biographies (most of them compiled for the first time), and on top of that, a rich pool of source materials – that is, in short, what the unique dictionary of "Polish Contribution to Natural Science and Technology" is about. Published by the Institute of the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of National Remembrance, it brings back the memory of outstanding, and for the most part forgotten, Poles.

It was Poles who laid the foundations of modern electronics, found the basic ingredient of fertilizers, built the most famous radio in the world (the walkie-talkie), devised a mine detector used by all modern armies, and were behind the creation of a hydrogen bomb, the first lunar vehicle, or a hologram. Jan Czochralski, Ignacy Mościcki, Henryk Magnuski, Józef Kosecki, Mieczysław Bekker, Mieczysław Wolfke and many other Polish scientists were on the forefront of innovation and development.

At noon on 4 February 2021, the “History Point”, Janusz Kurtyka Educational Centre in Marszałkowska Street in Warsaw, will see a press conference held jointly by the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the IPN. The event, devoted to the “Giants of Polish Science” educational campaign, will feature the IPN’s President, Jarosław Szarek, PhD, Professor Bolesław Orłowski of IHN PAN, who edited the 5-volume dictionary, and Alina Czerniakowska, the maker of the "Great Polish Inventors of the Second Republic" documentary series.

At the conference, we will present five-volume Polish Contribution to Natural Science and Technology. Dictionary of Polish and Poland-Related Explorers, Inventors and Pioneers in Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology, edited by Professor Orłowski as part of the joint initiative by Ludwik and Aleksander Birkenmajer Institute of the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of National Remembrance; additionally, the objectives of a media campaign and educational project based on the dictionary will be outlined, and the participants will be offered an opportunity to watch the first of the "Great Polish Inventors of the Second Republic" films.

As for the dictionary, the institutions behind the publication are planning to have it translated into English, so that the milestone inventions and discoveries made by great Polish minds could be promoted worldwide.

The event will be broadcast on the IPN-TV Youtube channel. All media representatives interested in participating, either at the conference venue or online, please send your requests for accreditation to the following address: media@ipn.gov.pl, or apply by phone: Paweł Błażewicz, 600 478 098, or Barbara Kiwała, 22 581 85 27. All accredited media will be sent the IPN TV YouTube link in the morning of 4 February.