Henryk Arctowski

Henryk Arctowski was a Polish scientist and explorer who lived in exile for a large part of his life. He was educated in Belgium and France, and he was one of the first humans to winter in Antarctica, as part of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition. He became an internationally renowned meteorologist, oceanographer, geologist, and geophysicist, and worked for over 10 years in the United States. He was instrumental in restoring Polish independence after the First World War, and he returned to Poland, where he continued a prolific academic career. He was a professor at the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów, and the founder and director of the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He also declined an offer to become Minister of Education. At the time World War II broke out, Arctowski and his wife were in America, and they were unable to return. He spent the final part of his career working as a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution until his retirement, and died in 1958 in Bethesda, Maryland. His ashes and his wife's ashes were later brought to Poland, as he had asked in his will. Several geographical features, the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station and a medal of the National Academy of Sciences are named in his honor.