Ludwik Kowalski
Encyclopedia
Ludwik Kowalski is a Polish
-American
nuclear physicist
, anti-communist
author
, and professor emeritus of Montclair State University
in Montclair, New Jersey
.
. His parents, members of the Polish Communist Party (the precursor of Polish United Workers' Party
), decided to emigrate to the Soviet Union
in 1932. In Moscow
, they continued in their careers as an engineer and nurse. His father was arrested in the night during the Great Purge
in 1938 as an "enemy of the people," never to be seen again by his family. Kowalski and his mother lost their home and lived briefly in the polyclinic where his mother worked, then moved to the Dedenievo settlement, some 30 miles north of Moscow, where his mother worked in a nursing home. Kowalski joined the Red Pioneers in elementary school. Later, he learned that his father had died in a Siberian camp some two years later, aged 36.
In June of 1941, when Nazi Germany
attacked the USSR, the Red Army
retreated from Dedenievo, but the German army halted in nearby Jachroma (Yakhroma
). However, the Germans bombed the settlement, killing many residents. Kowalski survived this period in the basement of an old church where peasants had stored vegetables from collective farms. In 1943, Kowalski's mother became a nurse in a Polish orphanage near Moscow, while Kowalski relearned Polish in the attached elementary school.
In 1946, the orphanage moved to Warsaw
and merged into the existing Nasz Dom orphanage. His mother worked there as a nurse, and Kowalski attended a progressive gymnasium (high school). His mother re-joined the Polish Communist Party, and he joined the Union of Polish Youth
. Kowalski then attended the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute (now the Warsaw University of Technology
) and then also joined the Party.
As an engineer, Kowalski specialized in electro-medicine. He learned how to design electrical instruments for doctors. He obtained a graduate degree based on research at Warsaw's Radium Institute (now the Curie Institute, Warsaw). In 1956, his application to work in a nuclear laboratory in the Soviet Union was rejected, and he traveled to Paris, where his father's sister lived. He hoped to be able to pursue doctoral studies in France. A written recommendation from Cezary Pawlowski, director of the Radium Institute and a former assistant of Marie Curie
, helped him join the laboratory of Joliot-Curie
, where he worked for the next seven years. In 1963, having obtained his doctorate
in Physics
from the Sorbonne
, he returned to Poland to work in an academic research laboratory.
In 1964, Kowalski attended a scientific conference in the US -- and stayed on, becoming a research associate with Professor Jack Miller
in Columbia University
's Chemistry
department. In 1969, he began a 35-year career as a professor and researcher of Physic at Montclair State University
. Since retiring in 2004, he has continued to work in two areas of personal interest--conducting Physics experiments and writing about experience under the Communism
of the Soviet Union from an anti-communism viewpoint.
His papers can be found online. His presentations can be found online.
One of his memoirs is an autobiography based on a diary he kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France, and the USA) and illustrates his evolution from one extreme to another--from devoted Stalinist to active anti-communist:
He also publishes OpEds and commentary in OpEdNews.
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
nuclear physicist
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
, anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, and professor emeritus of Montclair State University
Montclair State University
Montclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
in Montclair, New Jersey
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
.
Life
Kowalski was born in PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. His parents, members of the Polish Communist Party (the precursor of Polish United Workers' Party
Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
), decided to emigrate to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1932. In Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, they continued in their careers as an engineer and nurse. His father was arrested in the night during the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
in 1938 as an "enemy of the people," never to be seen again by his family. Kowalski and his mother lost their home and lived briefly in the polyclinic where his mother worked, then moved to the Dedenievo settlement, some 30 miles north of Moscow, where his mother worked in a nursing home. Kowalski joined the Red Pioneers in elementary school. Later, he learned that his father had died in a Siberian camp some two years later, aged 36.
In June of 1941, when Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
attacked the USSR, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
retreated from Dedenievo, but the German army halted in nearby Jachroma (Yakhroma
Yakhroma
Yakhroma is a town in Dmitrovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Yakhroma River, north of Moscow. Population: Yakhroma was founded in 1841 as a settlement servicing a local cloth factory on the Yakroma River. In 1901, Yakhroma railway station was built near the settlement,...
). However, the Germans bombed the settlement, killing many residents. Kowalski survived this period in the basement of an old church where peasants had stored vegetables from collective farms. In 1943, Kowalski's mother became a nurse in a Polish orphanage near Moscow, while Kowalski relearned Polish in the attached elementary school.
In 1946, the orphanage moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and merged into the existing Nasz Dom orphanage. His mother worked there as a nurse, and Kowalski attended a progressive gymnasium (high school). His mother re-joined the Polish Communist Party, and he joined the Union of Polish Youth
Union of Polish Youth
Związek Młodzieży Polskiej was a Polish communist youth organization, existing from 1948 to 1956...
. Kowalski then attended the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute (now the Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
) and then also joined the Party.
As an engineer, Kowalski specialized in electro-medicine. He learned how to design electrical instruments for doctors. He obtained a graduate degree based on research at Warsaw's Radium Institute (now the Curie Institute, Warsaw). In 1956, his application to work in a nuclear laboratory in the Soviet Union was rejected, and he traveled to Paris, where his father's sister lived. He hoped to be able to pursue doctoral studies in France. A written recommendation from Cezary Pawlowski, director of the Radium Institute and a former assistant of Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
, helped him join the laboratory of Joliot-Curie
Joliot-Curie
Joliot-Curie may refer to more than one person:* Frédéric Joliot-Curie- a French physicist and Nobel prize-winner* Irène Joliot-Curie - his wife and joint prize-winner with her husband...
, where he worked for the next seven years. In 1963, having obtained his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
, he returned to Poland to work in an academic research laboratory.
In 1964, Kowalski attended a scientific conference in the US -- and stayed on, becoming a research associate with Professor Jack Miller
Jack Miller
Jack Richard Miller was a Republican United States Senator from Iowa who served two terms from 1961 to 1973, and then a federal appellate judge....
in Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
department. In 1969, he began a 35-year career as a professor and researcher of Physic at Montclair State University
Montclair State University
Montclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
. Since retiring in 2004, he has continued to work in two areas of personal interest--conducting Physics experiments and writing about experience under the Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
of the Soviet Union from an anti-communism viewpoint.
Works
Kowalski has authored and co-authored nearly 100 scholarly papers on Physics, a textbook on Physics, and two books on Stalinism.His papers can be found online. His presentations can be found online.
One of his memoirs is an autobiography based on a diary he kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France, and the USA) and illustrates his evolution from one extreme to another--from devoted Stalinist to active anti-communist:
- Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality (memoirs online) (2010)
He also publishes OpEds and commentary in OpEdNews.
See also
- Nuclear physicsNuclear physicsNuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
- Warsaw University of TechnologyWarsaw University of TechnologyThe Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
- Curie Institute, Warsaw
- Joliot-CurieJoliot-CurieJoliot-Curie may refer to more than one person:* Frédéric Joliot-Curie- a French physicist and Nobel prize-winner* Irène Joliot-Curie - his wife and joint prize-winner with her husband...
- SorbonneSorbonneThe Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
- Montclair State UniversityMontclair State UniversityMontclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
- Anti-CommunismAnti-communismAnti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
- Polish United Workers' PartyPolish United Workers' PartyThe Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
- DalstroyDalstroyDalstroy , also known as Far North Construction Trust, was an organization set up in 1931 by the Soviet NKVD in order to manage road construction and the mining of gold in the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East, now known as Kolyma. Initially it was established as State Trust for Road and...
- KolymaKolymaThe Kolyma region is located in the far north-eastern area of Russia in what is commonly known as Siberia but is actually part of the Russian Far East. It is bounded by the East Siberian Sea and the Arctic Ocean in the north and the Sea of Okhotsk to the south...
- Great Soviet EncyclopediaGreat Soviet EncyclopediaThe Great Soviet Encyclopedia is one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedias in Russian and in the world, issued by the Soviet state from 1926 to 1990, and again since 2002 .-Editions:There were three editions...
- Steven E. JonesSteven E. JonesSteven Earl Jones is an American physicist. For most of his career, Jones was known mainly for his work on muon-catalyzed fusion. In the fall of 2006, amid controversy surrounding his work on the collapse of the World Trade Center , he was relieved of his teaching duties...
- USSR
- PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- StalinismStalinismStalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
- MagadanMagadanMagadan is a port town on the Sea of Okhotsk and gateway to the Kolyma region. It is the administrative center of Magadan Oblast , in the Russian Far East. Founded in 1929 on the site of an earlier settlement from the 1920s, it was granted the status of town in 1939...
- Union of Polish YouthUnion of Polish YouthZwiązek Młodzieży Polskiej was a Polish communist youth organization, existing from 1948 to 1956...
External links
- Hell on Earth: Brutality and Violence Under the Stalinist Regime - extracts from writings (2008)
- Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality - memoirs online (2010)
- Resource for Teachers (2010)
- Academia.edu