Radio Amateurs members of the Stowarzyszenie Krótkofalowcow Ziemi Dobrzyckiej, SP3POB will be active with special call SP150JS from Dobrzyca, Poland, commemorating 150th Anniversary of the Birth of the Jan Szczepanik.
They will operate on HF Bands.
QSL via SP3POB.
Ads for direct QSL:
Stowarzyszenie Krótkofalowców Ziemi Dobrzyckiej, Koźmińska 35, Dobrzyca 63-330, Poland.
Information from their QRZ page:
Technician, inventor, known as the Polish Edison. He was born on June 13, 1872 in Rudniki near Mościska.
He was the son of Maria Rudzińska. During the first year of his life, he was raised by his mother in the village of Zręcin near Krosno, where her parents lived. He became an orphan early after the unexpected death of his mother. He was brought up by his aunt Salomea Gradowiczowa, whose husband Wawrzyniec was a janitor in the starosty in Krosno.
He graduated from a folk school in Krosno, he continued his education in a gymnasium in Jasło. He distinguished himself in high school with mathematical and natural science skills. However, he did not graduate from high school. He moved to Krakow, where he graduated from a teacher training college. He started teaching as a folk teacher in Potok near Krosno, then he worked as a teacher in Lubatówka and then in Korczyn. As a teacher, he spent more time with children doing DIY than teaching lessons according to the methodology of the time. His passion was already then discoveries and inventions in the field of technology.
In 1896 he left the teaching profession (he was staying in Korczyn at the time) and moved to Kraków. He rented an apartment in which he conducted various technical experiments. Already during his stay in Korczyn, he was interested in color photography and inventions in the field of weaving. Patented in many European countries the method of automatic weaving tapestries. His name became famous already in the nineties of the last century. He was invited, inter alia, to the USA and China. Mark Twain devoted several articles to him and made him the hero of two short stories. He wanted to buy his North America patents.
In the years that followed, he made many discoveries. His technical interests went in different directions. He had many patented inventions. His inventions made a significant contribution to the development of such areas as: color photography, color film, television, sound film, telecommunications. He patented a bulletproof fabric, photosculptor, automatic thrust regulator. Due to its versatility, it was called the Polish Edison at the beginning of the 20th century. Already in 1899. created a colorful 35mm film, discoveries in this field later used on an industrial scale by Kodak and Agfa.
He was a very hardworking man, he was called a titan of work. At the beginning of the 20th century, he lived in Vienna, where he had his own studio. The years 1898-1902 were an extremely creative period in the life of Jan Szczepanik. His workshop in Vienna was visited by many industrialists from all over Europe.
In 1902 He married Wanda Dzikowska (born 1879), the daughter of a Tarnów district doctor, Zygmunt Dzikowski. The wedding took place in the Tarnów cathedral. After the wedding, he moved to Tarnów. He lived at 11 Szopena Street (then Klikowska), in the characteristic tenement house of his father-in-law that still exists today. He established his studio in this tenement house.
Soon he became a famous figure in Tarnów. He was shrouded in the fame of a European inventor that surrounded him. At the same time, absorbed in his work, he was considered a freak and a man of science in Tarnów. He spent all days in the studio. He had five children from his marriage. The son Andrzej was born in Vienna in 1904. In 1907 During the holidays spent by the Szczepanik family in Skrzyszów near Tarnów, Andrzejek drowned in a well. In 1906 son Zbigniew was born in Tarnów. Very gifted, he attended the 3rd gymnasium and studied technical sciences, but he did not finish his studies.
The next son of Jan and Wanda Szczepanik - Bogdan was born in Tarnów in 1908. He graduated from the 3rd gymnasium. He was gifted in painting, he made a living in retirement from selling his own paintings, he had individual exhibitions in Warsaw. In 1912. The Szczepanik's third son, Bogusław, was born in Tarnów. During the occupation, he was arrested by the Gestapo for conspiratorial work, planted in Berlin and held in prison in Wronki, where he was murdered. In 1914. Jan Szczepanik's only daughter, Maria, was born.
In 1936. she married a later civil engineer, Andrzej Zboiński, then a student of the Lviv Polytechnic. After World War II, the Zboiński family moved to Tarnów, where Maria's husband was the builder of the Tamel factory.
During World War I, German industry was interested in Szczepanik's discoveries. It was to be ordered by the German government to make a gigantic tapestry of several dozen meters. This tapestry was to represent the apotheosis of Germany's great victories. In 1916. he was visited in Tarnów to present drawings by German designers. The tapestry was to be woven thanks to the construction of Szczepanik. The imminent defeats of Germany interrupted this project. After World War I, he was interested in film. He was the precursor of many techniques in this field of art. Szczepanik's sons, Bogdan and Zbigniew, continued working on a color film after his death.
He was passionate about science. He had a library of several hundred volumes. After World War I, he continued to live in Tarnów. However, due to research and business, he rarely stayed in Tarnów, working in his studios in Vienna and Berlin. In 1925. he began to be seriously ill. A cancer attacked him. Seriously ill, he was treated in a hospital in Berlin. His wife and son Zbigniew went to get the terminally ill. Transported to Tarnów, he died on June 18, 1926. The cause of death was liver cancer. At the time of his death, he was 54
In his daughter's memoirs, Jan Szczepanik appears as a man absorbed in science, visiting Tarnów only during the summer and holidays. He loved his children very much. Once he was with him, he devoted all his time to them. He was extremely generous to his children and all members of a large family. He often traveled with them to Krościenko, funding luxurious holidays. In his free time, he practiced mountain tourism and organized tourist trips to the Alps.
He did not pay attention to clothes. He wore the same clothes, despite having dozens of suits. Medium height, with thick rather dark hair. He was completely indifferent to the publicity surrounding him. Wanda Szczepanik, after the death of her husband, and then after the death of her father, Dr. Z. Dzikowski, sold the house at Szopena Street in Tarnów and moved with her children to Kraków, and then to Warsaw, where she died in 1942.
In the 1960s, the city society founded a plaque dedicated to the great explorer. It is located in the tenement house where Jan Szczepanik lived and died at 11 Chopin Street. As one of the few Poles, he is included in all major technical encyclopedias in the world.
He rests in the Dzikowski family tomb in the Old Cemetery in Tarnów.
They will operate on HF Bands.
QSL via SP3POB.
Ads for direct QSL:
Stowarzyszenie Krótkofalowców Ziemi Dobrzyckiej, Koźmińska 35, Dobrzyca 63-330, Poland.
Information from their QRZ page:
Technician, inventor, known as the Polish Edison. He was born on June 13, 1872 in Rudniki near Mościska.
He was the son of Maria Rudzińska. During the first year of his life, he was raised by his mother in the village of Zręcin near Krosno, where her parents lived. He became an orphan early after the unexpected death of his mother. He was brought up by his aunt Salomea Gradowiczowa, whose husband Wawrzyniec was a janitor in the starosty in Krosno.
He graduated from a folk school in Krosno, he continued his education in a gymnasium in Jasło. He distinguished himself in high school with mathematical and natural science skills. However, he did not graduate from high school. He moved to Krakow, where he graduated from a teacher training college. He started teaching as a folk teacher in Potok near Krosno, then he worked as a teacher in Lubatówka and then in Korczyn. As a teacher, he spent more time with children doing DIY than teaching lessons according to the methodology of the time. His passion was already then discoveries and inventions in the field of technology.
In 1896 he left the teaching profession (he was staying in Korczyn at the time) and moved to Kraków. He rented an apartment in which he conducted various technical experiments. Already during his stay in Korczyn, he was interested in color photography and inventions in the field of weaving. Patented in many European countries the method of automatic weaving tapestries. His name became famous already in the nineties of the last century. He was invited, inter alia, to the USA and China. Mark Twain devoted several articles to him and made him the hero of two short stories. He wanted to buy his North America patents.
In the years that followed, he made many discoveries. His technical interests went in different directions. He had many patented inventions. His inventions made a significant contribution to the development of such areas as: color photography, color film, television, sound film, telecommunications. He patented a bulletproof fabric, photosculptor, automatic thrust regulator. Due to its versatility, it was called the Polish Edison at the beginning of the 20th century. Already in 1899. created a colorful 35mm film, discoveries in this field later used on an industrial scale by Kodak and Agfa.
He was a very hardworking man, he was called a titan of work. At the beginning of the 20th century, he lived in Vienna, where he had his own studio. The years 1898-1902 were an extremely creative period in the life of Jan Szczepanik. His workshop in Vienna was visited by many industrialists from all over Europe.
In 1902 He married Wanda Dzikowska (born 1879), the daughter of a Tarnów district doctor, Zygmunt Dzikowski. The wedding took place in the Tarnów cathedral. After the wedding, he moved to Tarnów. He lived at 11 Szopena Street (then Klikowska), in the characteristic tenement house of his father-in-law that still exists today. He established his studio in this tenement house.
Soon he became a famous figure in Tarnów. He was shrouded in the fame of a European inventor that surrounded him. At the same time, absorbed in his work, he was considered a freak and a man of science in Tarnów. He spent all days in the studio. He had five children from his marriage. The son Andrzej was born in Vienna in 1904. In 1907 During the holidays spent by the Szczepanik family in Skrzyszów near Tarnów, Andrzejek drowned in a well. In 1906 son Zbigniew was born in Tarnów. Very gifted, he attended the 3rd gymnasium and studied technical sciences, but he did not finish his studies.
The next son of Jan and Wanda Szczepanik - Bogdan was born in Tarnów in 1908. He graduated from the 3rd gymnasium. He was gifted in painting, he made a living in retirement from selling his own paintings, he had individual exhibitions in Warsaw. In 1912. The Szczepanik's third son, Bogusław, was born in Tarnów. During the occupation, he was arrested by the Gestapo for conspiratorial work, planted in Berlin and held in prison in Wronki, where he was murdered. In 1914. Jan Szczepanik's only daughter, Maria, was born.
In 1936. she married a later civil engineer, Andrzej Zboiński, then a student of the Lviv Polytechnic. After World War II, the Zboiński family moved to Tarnów, where Maria's husband was the builder of the Tamel factory.
During World War I, German industry was interested in Szczepanik's discoveries. It was to be ordered by the German government to make a gigantic tapestry of several dozen meters. This tapestry was to represent the apotheosis of Germany's great victories. In 1916. he was visited in Tarnów to present drawings by German designers. The tapestry was to be woven thanks to the construction of Szczepanik. The imminent defeats of Germany interrupted this project. After World War I, he was interested in film. He was the precursor of many techniques in this field of art. Szczepanik's sons, Bogdan and Zbigniew, continued working on a color film after his death.
He was passionate about science. He had a library of several hundred volumes. After World War I, he continued to live in Tarnów. However, due to research and business, he rarely stayed in Tarnów, working in his studios in Vienna and Berlin. In 1925. he began to be seriously ill. A cancer attacked him. Seriously ill, he was treated in a hospital in Berlin. His wife and son Zbigniew went to get the terminally ill. Transported to Tarnów, he died on June 18, 1926. The cause of death was liver cancer. At the time of his death, he was 54
In his daughter's memoirs, Jan Szczepanik appears as a man absorbed in science, visiting Tarnów only during the summer and holidays. He loved his children very much. Once he was with him, he devoted all his time to them. He was extremely generous to his children and all members of a large family. He often traveled with them to Krościenko, funding luxurious holidays. In his free time, he practiced mountain tourism and organized tourist trips to the Alps.
He did not pay attention to clothes. He wore the same clothes, despite having dozens of suits. Medium height, with thick rather dark hair. He was completely indifferent to the publicity surrounding him. Wanda Szczepanik, after the death of her husband, and then after the death of her father, Dr. Z. Dzikowski, sold the house at Szopena Street in Tarnów and moved with her children to Kraków, and then to Warsaw, where she died in 1942.
In the 1960s, the city society founded a plaque dedicated to the great explorer. It is located in the tenement house where Jan Szczepanik lived and died at 11 Chopin Street. As one of the few Poles, he is included in all major technical encyclopedias in the world.
He rests in the Dzikowski family tomb in the Old Cemetery in Tarnów.