Background
Abakanowicz was born in 1852 in Vilkmergė, Russian Empire (now Lithuania).
engineer inventor mathematician
Abakanowicz was born in 1852 in Vilkmergė, Russian Empire (now Lithuania).
Riga Technical University.
After graduating from the Riga Technical University, Abakanowicz passed his habilitation and began an assistantship at the Technical University of LwóWest In 1881, he moved to France where he purchased a villa in Parc Saint Maur on the outskirts of Paris. Earlier he invented the integraph, a form of the integrator, which was patented in 1880, and was henceforth produced by the Swiss firm Coradi.
Among his other patents were the parabolagraph, the spirograph, the electric bell used in trains, and an electric arc lamp of his own design.
Abakanowicz published several works, including works on statistics, integrators and numerous popular scientific works, such as one describing his integraph. He was also hired by the French government as an expert on electrification and was the main engineer behind the electrification of, among other places, the city of Lyon.
His patents allowed him to become a wealthy man and made him receive the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur"Honneur in 1889. Around that time he retired to a small island in Trégastel, off the coast of Brittany, where between 1892 and 1896 he erected a neo-Gothic manor.
Although the construction works were not finished in Abakanowicz"s lifetime, the castle of Costaérès became a notable centre of Polish emigree culture, housing many notable artists, scientists and politicians.
Among frequent guests of Abakanowicz were Aleksander Gierymski, Władysław Mickiewicz, Leon Wyczółkowski and Henryk Sienkiewicz. Bruno Abakanowicz died suddenly on 29 August 1900. As for Abakanowicz"s nationality, he was born in the lands which were once part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Some later documents refer to him as a Russian because at the time of his birth, Ukmergė was part of the Russian Empire.
Encyclopædia Britannica calls him a Lithuanian mathematician in its article on the integraph. Others consider him a Pole due to his fluent command of the language, friendship with many leading Polish personalities of the time, and literary contributions in Polish.
His surname Abakanowicz which has Lipka Tatar roots goes back to the szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the Abdank Coat of Arms.