people-from-krakow

"At Yale, I initially continued research on the problems which I brought from Poland. Within a few months, I made five papers and then published them in the leading American and British magazines. They liked me, they came to the conclusion that Ptak is good and efficient. The head of the Department of Pathology was then Richard K. Gershon, would-be Nobel Prize winner, a Polish Jew in a third generation. He died of lung cancer in 1983, at the age of fifty. We were close friends; I spent the last months of his life with him. Sometimes, speaking with me, he joked: „You're too intelligent not to be Jewish.”"

"Contrary to what is often thought, excessive hygiene, staying in an antibacterial environment, does not necessarily lead to a better health. Sometimes it causes even health deterioration. Indirect proof may be that among rural children there are fewer allergic diseases than among urban children. This is because children in the countryside have contact with a lot more bacteria. In every respect, you can see that exaggeration is unhealthy."

"Despite such an extensive knowledge, immunity is still a field full of secrets. It fascinates and pushes us to develop new research strategies. Sometimes it resembles a fight with an unknown, invisible enemy. Although lately, thanks to the modern technology, this „battlefield” has been quite well recognized."

"I argued with Professor Julian Aleksandrowicz, because he used some therapeutic activities that I did not like, such as the debatable use of suppressive drugs. Once, I criticized him for that in public. I was already appointed a professor, when I had a nice conversation with Professor Aleksandrowicz. I started – „Sir, as a scientist...”. He interrupted me – „There are three categories of people involved in science. Scientists, they are the ones who take the test tubes, they pour something into them. There are scholars, like you. And finally, sir, there are thinkers.” Someone later pointed out that I did not answer him – „You are a thinker, sir.” Aleksandrowicz had something of a thinker in himself."

"I don't like to stay long outside of Kraków. I was always happy to go back there, just like a cat. Well, that's my mental structure."

"I have peasant origins. It manufactures hardness. One of my grandfathers was a peasant, the other one was a foreman in a cigarette factory. I trained my mind whole life. For example, I studied poems by heart, ranging from Mickiewicz to Mayakovsky. (in answer to the question of how he managed to stay active scientifically for so long)"

"If we look at the highly specialized action of our immune system, we will appreciate into what a brilliant tool evolution has shaped us. Each of us has millions of cells that recognize and destroy foreign antigens. Of course, I mean a healthy, well-functioning immune system, because unfortunately – sometimes it fails."

"In my childhood, I had natural interests. I got a microscope from someone, I made a telescope myself – a very poor quality, but I could see the moon. First, I wanted to become an astronomer. I read books about astronomy by James Jeans. I even read Arthur S. Eddington, which I did not quite understand. On the other hand, Jan Dembowski's book Natural History of One Protozoan made a huge impression on me. I decided that I would go towards biology, that I would become a physician."

"I've never been a practicing physician. Except the time when I was called to the army and ordered to heal soldiers. Neither before nor after that did I deal with practical medicine. The more we enter the future, the more laboratory medicine becomes something different than practical medicine. The former one requires specialists of a different format than those who serve at the bedside. It also requires completely different skills. I research allergy, but my experimental animal is a mouse, not a human."

"Jews are one of the few ethnic groups in which learning is equivalent to praising God. This brings results. One Jewish Nobel Prize winner, when asked where his passion for science came from, explained, that when his friends were returning home, they were asked what the teacher asked them during the day. The Nobel Prize winner mother asked him instead: „What did you ask the teacher today?”. He was taught to ask, not to prepare answers."

"Like many scientists, I believe that excessive hygienisation of life is responsible for the development of allergies. We avoid contact with microorganisms. Our children live in almost sterile conditions, we wash our hands every now and then. Our immune system hardly comes into contact with bacteria, but it is still in contact with other antigens. So, if the organism gets bored, these other antigens, completely harmless – a protein of milk, fish, or even strawberries – start to be treated as enemies."

"My mother, whom I loved very much, had a trouble with me. I had very good school certificates. But I tormented her with horribly stinky collections. It was not enough for me at home to have a dog, a cat, a canary, a fish, and even a white mouse. A mouse loved to walk around the apartment, although it lived in a cage. I added the protozoa to this menagerie. Traditional definitions regarded these small organisms – such as, for example, amoebae, flagellates, sponges, algae – as single-celled. What was in these asexually reproducing animals or plants that could intrigue the little boy so much that he would permanently bring this muck (as the mother would say) home?! After all, neither the request nor the threat of this exceptionally tolerant woman, who carried out her home diligently on a daily basis, did help. A trip to the ponds, or actually to the morass at Bonarka district, were exciting for the little boy. And even more, he enjoyed the moments when he could watch what was happening in aquariums, jars or cages for hours."

"My professional work connects with intellectual play, with great passion. But I like to read, I'm interested in philosophy, religion and history. And I love dogs! Now I have two friends that take me out for a walk every day."

"People spend unnecessarily high amounts of money on drugs or supplements that support immunity (for example, fashionable Japanese ginkgo – there is no evidence that it works), meanwhile they do more harm to themselves by their way of life, for example by inadequate diet."

"Stupefied parents must be persuaded that by not vaccinating their children, they harm these children and the entire society. Because, as a significant part of the society will not become resistant to a given pathogen, there is a chance that an epidemic will occur. Now, for example, measles returns. Completely harmless in the childhood (in my time all children went through it and nothing bad happened), it can lead to very serious complications in adult patients."

"Tadzik Gumiński (later a reader in pediatry), who was just like me fascinated by astronomy, lived at Szpitalna Street, and I lived at Garncarska Street. Not far from our homes, at Podwale, there was an optical store Maruńczak and the Company (in the place where the scientific bookstore is now located). In this optical store, as little kids, we bought lenses and other parts necessary to build a telescope. This telescope, of course, was very simple. But thanks to it, we spent many nights observing the sky, deciphering star systems. It was really great fun."

"The task of immune cells is to recognize foreignness. And fight with it. An implanted foreign organ, or its fragment, is undoubtedly a foreign body. The immune system therefore begins to fight it. However, now immunopressives – and therefore immunosuppressants – are so effective that the rejection of transplants is inhibited."

"He was born in Kraków and decided to tie his scientific path with this city, although he would be welcome by the most prestigious universities in the world, as evidenced by the twenty-five years of romance with Yale University, where he was a visiting professor. In spite of his age (born in 1928) he does not slow down – he is still working scientifically, he publishes articles."

"Well, the truth is that although in the 1980s everyone in Poland was in favor of changes in the country or at the university, the path to these changes was seen differently by everyone. If I remembered one of the more turbulent meetings of the Kraków Medical Academy authorities (I was handling this meeting as a journalist) in the most tense time of Solidarity strikes, professor Ptak strongly protested that the proverbial cleaner or even the students would decide on the election of the rector."

"The importance of oaks both in the economy and in the forest ecosystem is big, but the exceptional part is that this tree plays in the old beliefs and legends."

"In the second half of the 18th century, first residences-museums were created in Poland. Old palaces were changed to adapt them for exhibitions purposes, or new buildings were erected with separate museum annexes. First such museums in Poland was established in 1802 by Stanisław Kostka Potocki at Wilanów. The museums at Nieborów, Nieśwież, Puławy, Rogalin, Gołuchów and Kórnik followed. At first these museums were established as a response to fashion, later national and patriotic issues became prevailing reasons."

"The history of the castle at Wiśnicz Nowy is enlivened by many legends. Many well-known artists visited the castle in centuries past. Till now, many elements of old architecture (towers, chapel) have survived, together with some details of interior design."

"In Bolków there is a monumental Piast dynasty castle, one of the largest fortresses of the Świdnica Duchy. This stronghold, erected in the 13th century, defended nearby trade routes. Its monumental walls are still very impressive, stirring the imagination. This fortress is testimony to the dramatic history of this part of Central Europe."

"Nature in fact the best and wisest is an architect and urban planner. (...) The history of establishing gardens and orchards throughout the centuries in Poland is worth knowing, taking into consideration changes in fashions and the foreign influences. Unfortunately, not many objects from those days manifesting the love of nature by man have remained till the present days."

"The Krzyżtopór castle which was built in the 17th century belongs to the most splendid Polish buildings of the defensive and palatial character. The castle was famous for its design which accounted for the principles of the division of time (4 towers, 12 large halls, 52 rooms and 365 windows)."

"For several years we have witnessed climatic irregularities that prompt fear and anxiety about the conditions of our future existence. However, the climatic anomalies occurred also in the past when the blame for environmental destruction could hardly be put on humans."

"The Barbican - an element of medieval fortifications; a circular defensive structure with loop-holes, in front of the town walls. In Europe this kind of building has been preserved only at Carcassonne (southern France), Zgorzelec (Görlitz), and of course in Cracow. (...) It was at that time, that one of the largest European buildings of this kind came to to exist in Cracow, being nowadays the best preserved example of the medieval barbican."

"Sensitiveness to beauty of the world continues, and efforts to preserve it were also made in the past."

"The Tenczyn castle dates from the 14th century and it was built as a defensive edifice by Andrzej Toporczyk who after some time took the name of Tenczyński - after the name of the place. For many years the castle was a source of power of the family who played an important part in the politics of old Poland."

"Ignaz Friedman, who I admired, was a great artist. He had wonderful fingers and a very personal, individual way of playing, even if some of his ideas were very strange to me. He had no hesitation touching up the music. I got annoyed with him at one concert when he changed the basses in Chopin's F minor Ballade. I didn't like that. For some reason he was happier making records than he was on the stage."

"He was a lazy artist, he wasn't a pusher. but he was one of the few pianists of the caliber of Rosenthal and Rachmaninoff."

"His style was completely his own, and it was marked by a combination of incredible technique, musical freedom (some called it eccentricity), a tone that simply soared, and a naturally big approach, with dynamic extremes that tended to make a Chopin mazurka sound like an epic. In his youth he was accused of uncontrolled banging, and the charge may be true. He must have had something of Rosenthal's approach in his make-up: a colossal technique that sometimes would run away. As he matured he was able to control his fingers, and whatever he did was because he specifically wanted it so. He handled a melodic line inimitably — deftly outlining it against the bass, never allowing it to sag, always providing interest by a unique stress or accent. As he thought big, he played big. His recording of Chopin's Revolutionary Etude is a remarkable, magnificent conception. To provide impetus, Friedman runs the left-hand arpeggios with tremendous speed — running the notes together so that they slur a bit up to the climactic E flat. The effect is heroic, though purists might wrinkle their nose. Equally remarkable are his records of a series of Chopin mazurkas and Mendelssohn's Songs without Words. Again he does not play by the book — he was a true child of the late romantic age and, especially in the Chopin, his rhythms, accents and volcanic approach are apt to unsettle conservative listeners. But the more one hears them, the more one admires. And his recording of Chopin's E flat Nocturne (Op. 55, No. 2) may well be the most beautiful, singing, perfectly proportioned performance of a Chopin nocturne ever put on records. Like him or not, Friedman was a force — a powerful, unusual, original pianist, sometimes erratic but always fascinating, and always full of imagination and daring."

"Kiedy miałem kilka lat, często podchodziłem do drzwi pokoju, w którym akurat ćwiczyła mama, wsłuchiwałem się w dźwięki i wyobrażałem sobie tę muzykę."

"...Kolejnym wydarzeniem festiwalu był występ Alchemy Trio w Synagodze Tempel. To znakomita krakowska wiolonczelistka Dorota Imiełowska z czarodziejem akordeonu Konradem Ligasem i równie rewelacyjnym kontrabasistą Romanem Ślazykiem. Z muzykami wystapił 16-letni Łukasz Pawlikowski, o którym śmiało można powiedzieć, że już dołączył do grona najlepszych polskich wiolonczelistów. Muzyka żydowska, którą grali / również we własnej aranżacji/ zachwycała, wzruszała i bawiła, bo to muzyka nie tylko niezwykle emocjonalna, ale i pełna humoru. To był nie tylko koncert - artyści zaprezentowali spektakl muzyczno-teatralny. Rewelacja!"

"Sztuka nie pyta o wiek, tylko oczekuje wiele."

"It is never right to be more Catholic than the Pope."

"As I walk through my beloved Krakowski Park and pass by a group of young people from which I can smell beer, I give them a wide berth. But when I feel the weed, I go boldly through their group and sometimes chat. Yes, the abuse of marijuana causes trouble with memory, concentration, but it is a short-lived condition. I'm not talking about extreme cases, but there are few of them. Less than after alcohol. Oneself should sometimes detach from reality to deal with it somehow."

"With all due respect for the title of professor. Vetulani, however, is a unique moron."

"The results led us to say that the so-called β-down-regulation is not (as it was believed in the 1970s and 1980s) a necessary and characteristic condition for the antidepressant action of drugs. In particular, this confirmed the result that citalopram, currently considered the most effective antidepressant from the group of selective serotonin inhibitors, does not cause β-down regulation, and the opposite effect. Jurek was completely not bothered by the fact that these results had narrowed down the earlier theory (his and Sulser's) regarding the mechanism of action of antidepressants. He believed, and often said, that a true scholar can not fall in love with his own theories and must know that sometimes they should be verified."

"The professor was a charismatic person, lectures and crowds of listeners gave him great pleasure. Undoubtedly, an additional feature that attracted crowds was his sense of humor, also in relation to himself. Not only lectures, but also ordinary conversations with Jurek were full of humor and jokes. He had an amazing personality. His energy, knowledge sharing did not diminish with age, but even being an extremely busy person because of his scientific activities and numerous lectures given throughout Poland, he never refused to lecture as part of the "Brain Week" and write an article. He is an unrivaled model of a neuroscientist, social activist and popularizer of science."

"Professor writes about the brain in a very approachable way, and from what he writes, the conviction that man is free is born. The message of his books influenced, among others, the emergence of several of my painting cycles. For me he is an authority, and I do not have many of them."

"Jurek was a ubiquitous person, in all ways sociable, he constantly acquainted people with one another and liked to be in the center of attention. He was extroverted, he felt best in company, which he liked to surprise with his funny sayings and stories and often controversial opinions on various life topics. He also liked to talk about himself and his achievements and belonged to a small group of people who took care of writing down the details of their biography and continually supplementing it with descriptions of subsequent events. Obtaining further awards or honorable functions was carefully recorded. When I once asked if it wasn't a waste of time for him, he retorted with his inborn charm and a specific sense of humor: "... of course not, this will be another line to my obituary. And yet, my dear, there are many indications that you will take part in writing it, so be happy that just in case you will have something like ready "crib sheet" and above all "first hand" data so at least you won't mess up anything." Jurek's prophetic words, it was so, I did not have to look for that data because I had it in my computer."

"Jurek had a feature rarely seen in an older adult – an unrestrained, almost childish curiosity of the world that fueled his activity in everyday life and did not allow him to age mentally. He liked to be on the move all the time, to go on trips, so as not to sit idle."

"It is the most obvious fact that Jerzy Vetulani is an extraordinary personality who masterfully combines deep knowledge with the art of rhetoric, form and beauty of expression. But I have trouble answering the question: Who is Professor Vetulani really? There is no doubt that he is an eminent scholar, a star of Polish science, but he is also an unconventional man – what shocked me two years ago when he marched in the first line of the Cannabis Legalization March."

"In lectures, it is important that you lecture plain. We are interested in the smartest students, and we really should take care of those who have most difficulties with understanding certain concepts. I try to balance it. You know what? In lecturing, Jerzy Vetulani really helped me – listening to his lectures, I learned how to teach correctly, so that the students did not fall asleep after fifteen minutes."

"I will remember him as a man who is honestly seeking the truth. And a bit more: there was also the courage to find and take risks to defend this truth."

"I met Jurek many years ago when he was only little older than his beloved grandson now. And he was just as nice and at the same time extremely handsome!"

"He was an extraordinary man – a colorful bird against the background of academic gray. A scholar and erudite, he was witty, malicious, surprising, uncompromising and courageous. His knowledge and talent for lecturing made him a valued popularizer of neuroscience. He could simplify even very complex phenomena, showing their essence and meaning. Non-standard interpretations of the reality that he presented at the lectures were witty, but also deep and attracted fascinated youth. He loved Krakow – he knew everything about it and was a great guide. There is grief and anger in us that he was driven over at the pedestrian crossing by a delivery van."

"He was a man of contradictions: genius, loyal, virtuous. But also uncompromising and even brazen. Beloved and unbearable at the same time. A controversial scientist, and just a good man."

"He was an extremely direct man, spontaneous in dealing with other people, he did not care about keeping distance between him as the boss and co-workers. At the very beginning he informed me that he was on first name terms with everyone, proposing the same to me as well. Of course, I willingly (and proudly) accepted this situation."