Background
Wacław Szybalski was born in 1921 in Lwów, Poland, into a Polish intelligentsia family. His father Stefan was an engineer, and his mother, Michalina née Rakowska, was a Doctor of Chemistry.
Wacław Szybalski was born in 1921 in Lwów, Poland, into a Polish intelligentsia family. His father Stefan was an engineer, and his mother, Michalina née Rakowska, was a Doctor of Chemistry.
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Politechnika Lwów, 1944. Master of Science in Chemical Engineering, Politechnika Slaska, Gliwice, Poland, 1945. Doctor of Science, Institute of Technology, Gdansk, Poland, 1949.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Institute of Technology, Gdansk, Poland, 2001. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Marie Curie, Lublin, Poland, 1980. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Gdansk, 1989.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Medical Academy Gdansk, 2000.
The Szybalski family maintained close friendships with numerous leading representatives of the Polish intelligentsia in Lwów, including Professor January Czekanowski, the father of Polish anthropology, and the outstanding bacteriologist, Professor Rudolf Stefan Weigl. In 1939 Szybalski graduated from the famous Gymnasium northern 8 in LwóWest After World World War II broke out, from 23 September 1939, Lwów was occupied by the Soviet Union.
Szybalski joined the Chemistry Department at the Lwów Polytechnic, where he was entranced by the lectures of Professor Adolf Joszt, a leading expert on processes of fermentation.
Joszt even then held a vision of developing science in the direction of genetic engineering and biotechnology, which had a direct influence on Szybalski"s future scientific development. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, in 1941 Lwów was occupied by the Nazis.
Szybalski survived the occupation by working as a feeder of lice in Rudolf Weigl"s institute for typhus research. Szybalski subsequently emigrated to the United States and became a professor of oncology at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison Medical School.
Member of American Association for the Advancement of Science, Polish Institute Arts and Sciences American (C. Funk Natural Science award 2003), Polish Academy of Sciences, European Molecular Biology Organizations (lecturer 1971, 1976), American Society Microbiologists (chairman virology division 1972-1974, chairman division IV 1974-1975), Genetic Society of America, American Society Biochemists, Polish Medical Alliance (honorary), Italian Society Experimental Biology (honorary), Polish Society Microbiologists (honorary).
Married Elizabeth Hunter, February 5, 1955. Children: Barbara A. Szybalski Sandor, Stefan H.