4631369896

1002 R.W. ADAMIAK, W./., ANTKOWIAK

ABSTRACT

Profcssor Dr Maciej Wiewiórowski, the Profcssor Hmeritus at the Univcrsity of Adam Mickiewicz and a t the Institntc of Bioorganic Chcmistry, Polish Acadciny of Sciences, a distinguished organie chcmist of International authority, truły meritorious in the dcvclopmcnt of natural product chcmistry and the implcmcntation of modern rcscarch methods in Poland, cclcbratcs the 85^,h unniversary of his birthdny this ycar. In rccognition of his rcirmrkablc achicvcmcnts in the fleki of natural product chcmistry, a group of his alumni and fomicr eowor-kers dcdicated to him u symposium (spccinlly organized as a part of the Polish Chemical Soeiety Annunl Mccting in Lublin 2003) conecming bioorganic chcmistry, the field of science in which his aehicvcmcnts wcrc most significant.

Profcssor M. Wiewiórowski was bom August 24, 1918, in Bagatelka, (which is in Poznan*s provincc). He took up u univcrsity coursc in chcmistry in 1936, bcing interrupted by the World War II, during which hc was dceply engaged in the rcsistancc movcmcnt, scrving in the Polish underground Home Anny, AK, and was kept imprisoncd for two ycars by the German Security Scrvicc, SI). He pickcd up the coursc again in Mareh, 1945, und rcccivcd the M.Sc. and Ph.D. in chcmistry from Poznań Univcrsity in 1946 and 1950, rcspectivcly. The lattcr dcgrcc hc got for his studics of alfa isomerism in codeinc chcmistry, working under the supcrvision of Prof. Jerzy Suszko. Profcssor M. Wiewiórowski got his scicntific titlc of associatc profcssor in 1959 and that of fuli profcssor in 1969. Krom 1946 to 1959, hc was employed by the Acadciny of I* eonom i es, wlicrc hc ftllcd numerous high posts and organized a rcscarch team working in the natural product chcmistry. 1 Ic retumed to the univcrsity, U AM, in 1959, wlicrc hc was employed till his rctircmcnt in 1989, bcing the llcnd oftlie Stereoehe-mistry Department (1967 1980), the Director of the Institute of Chcmistry (1969 1973) and a viee-Rcctor of A. Mickiewicz Univcrsity (1968 1972). I^;rom 1955, hc was additionully employed by the Polish Acudemy of Science, bcing the Head succcssively of the Biochctmcal Laboratory in the Plants Cultivation Department (1955 1960), the Biochcmistry and Alkaloids Structurc Department in IBB (1960 1969), the Naluntl Product Stcrcochcmistry Department, Inst. Org. Chem. (1969 1980), the Bioorganic Chcmistry Department (1980 1988) and the Bioorganic Chcmistry Institute in PASc, as the Director from Kebruury to July, 1988, wlicn hc retired. In 1965, Profcssor M. Wiewiórowski bccame un associatcd mcinhcr and, in 1977, a fuli member of the PASc.

The numerous scicntific contaets willi the most significant Chemical and bioehemical rcscarch ccntcrs in the world wcrc initiated by Profcssor M. Wiewiórowski in 1956 1957, when lic was a Fel Iow at the Univcrsity of Vicnnu in Profcssor F. Gnlinowsky's laboratory and, then, lwice at the National Research Council ofCanudn, Ottawa, in 1959 1960 and 1965 1966. working willi Dr. I.. Manon. Dr. O.K. LdwareLs and Dr. M. Przybylski.

In the lale Sixtics, hc partie i puted in the fornuition of a ncw rcscarch center in Po/iuui, the Intcrcollcgintc Institute of Biochcmistry, and, hccauscof his initiativc, two other institutions, u.scful to uli the rcscarch laborato-rics in and around Poznań, the lnstnimcntal Chemical Analysis Center and the Doctoml Studics Center, wcrc crcated at IJAM.

His first scicntific objcct of interest was the stmeture of alkaloids, particularly tho.se isolatod from łupin plants. Research in this field latcr cvolvcd into a study of an intrnmoleeulnr eutalysts, the uun of which wus to cxaminc the incchanism of the enzyme action, using cyclic dinmincs as ruhIcI eompounds.

His sccond field of scicntific interest, undertnken at the cud oftlie Sixtics, was the iniuwatory on a world sculc Chemical rcscarch of nucicie nciiLs, cspccinlly conccrning tlieir synthesis, structurc clucidution. isolation from plant mutcrial and role in peptide synthesis.

At the end of the Sixtics, hc crcated a ncw rcscarch group, bascd on the young pcoplc working under his supcrvision at the Institute of Chcmistry. UAM, and at the Department of Natural Product Stcrcochcmistry, Inst. Org. (Mieni., PASc, giving tlicm a spccial educntion in the field of nucicie acid chcmistiy. This group, which wus, in 1974, movcd from the univcrsity to a ncw place m Noskowskiego Street, whcrc the main chcimcał mul bioehemical labwratorics wcrc only huilt in the fol Iow i ug ycars, vcry soon rcachcd sonie significant scicntific uchicvcmcnts. Moretwer, this group constitutcd the origm oftlie independent Department in 1980, which bccame the Institute of Bioorganic Clicmistry, PASc, in 1988, ndniinistcrcd by Profcssor M. Wiewiórowski all the timc till his rctircmcnt.