The publication “In search of a better world. 20 stories about people of science” was created on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). It includes stories about scientists and their passion triggering them to explore the world, told by contemporary Polish writers.

The jubilee publication describes stories about researchers representing various sciences and living over the centuries. The book presents the background of the country’s history as well as international changes and breakthroughs as those scholars were participants and even causal factors of the events.

Invited by the Polish Academy of Sciences, contemporary Polish authors describe the biographies of outstanding scientists being often dramatic and strongly involved in history. In their short essays, they try to answer the question of whether science can make the world a better place.

The book features not only famous scientists: Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Nicolaus Copernicus, Ludwik Hirszfeld, Stefan Banach, Johannes Hevelius, Jan Czochralski, Bronisław Malinowski or Maria Skłodowska-Curie, but also those less recognizable – e.g. Maria Zakrzewska, a doctor of Polish origin, who revolutionized the education of nurses and doctors in the USA, despite the limitations placed on women, or Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, a heroic nurse and legendary organizer of paleontological expeditions.

The authors gave the formalized world of scientific theories a very personal, individual trait. Stories in the form of essays, stories, and even fairy tales were written by Stefan Chwin, Łukasz Orbitowski, Sylwia Chutnik, Mikołaj Łoziński, Inga Iwasiów, Łukasz Zawada and Joanna Bator. The texts are complemented by illustrations of scientists, sometimes in well-known historical poses with an original and contemporary approach.

Each character in the book will have a unique place – a bench with a quote from the essay describing him. The benches will be placed in Aleja Lipowa PAN in the Botanical Garden in Powsin.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński