Contribution of Prof. I. Malecki to the Polish School of Acoustics

Abstract

A detailed study of the history of the Polish acoustics does not exist. The easiest way to present such a history might consist in describing the activity of separate teams, gathered around several leading personalities. The following publication is an attempt to present the scientific contribution to Polish acoustics of Professor Ignacy Malecki himself and of the teams which were co-operating with him. The first Polish research on acoustics was started in the middle of the thirties. During the war period, lectures on acoustics were given at the underground Warsaw Technical University. When the country was being rebuilt after the war, solutions of the problems of acoustics of the reconstructed halls, as well as proper solutions for the noise control in the building industry were required. The scientific research at the Warsaw Technical University, and at the Building Research Institute has started. The Electro-acoustical Chair was founded at the Warsaw Technical University. Later on the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Science was established, where research on acoustics, aimed mainly at the ultrasonic testing, the improvement of noise measurements, and the acoustics of speech, were conducted. Theoretical studies on the electro-mechano-acoustical analogies and the coupled electro-acoustical fields were carried out. Heterogeneous media, especially ceramics, were tested theoretically and experimentally. An interest in hypersounds and in the quantum representation of the acoustical phenomena was growing. The diffraction field and the transport of the vibrations through the ear channel have been described using the quantum method. Focal point has been shiflet from the measurement of the acoustic waves velocity and their attenuation to the investigation of the active phenomenon, i.e. the acoustic emission was performed, and different fields of its application were developed. The acoustic emission during the brittle fracture and during chemical reactions were also studied. Scientific cooperation with other countries and the teaching activity associated with the research undertaken were conducted.