Władysław Szaniawski - engineer and astronomer

Władysław Szaniawski (15 July 1861 - 16 January 1931) was a visionary, inventor and the owner of Przegaliny Duże who created an astrological observatory and meteorological station in his mansion.

Life and career

Early years and education

Władysław Szaniawski was born on 15 July,1861 in Przegaliny Duże, Radzyński district (Podlasie). He was the only son of Countess Ksawera Adelajda Bieńkowska of the Jastrzębiec coat of arms and Wiktor Szaniawski of the Junosza coat of arms, a landowner and the owner of Przegaliny. Władysław spent his childhood in a highly patriotic atmosphere that pervaded the whole family in those times of oppression and persecution of Polishness. His father took an active part in the 1863 uprising, which led to him being imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Russians in Radzyń Podlaski. Fortunately, he managed to avoid this thanks to the skillful efforts of his wife and friends.  

Young Władysław was educated at the 4th Classical Gymnasium in Warsaw, then he changed school and studied at the St. Anna Gymnasium (at present – B.Nowodworski I Upper Secondary School) in Cracow, which he graduated from in 1880. Since an early age he showed an outstanding passion and aptitude for mathematical sciences and mechanics, therefore he was sent to Ghent in Belgium to acquire higher education. In 1880, he entered the Ecole Speciale des Arts et Manufactures at the local university. During the studies, Władysław attracted attention of the most eminent professors of Ghent University with a number of excellent ideas and designs of technical devices, made with extraordinary precision. He graduated from the university with the highest distinction (grande distinction) in 1884 receiving a degree in Engineering.

Pioneer, visionary, inventor  

Despite receiving promising offers to stay in Belgium, Władysław decided to return to Poland. There he was employed for some period of time at the design department of the engineering, production and construction company K. Rudzki i S-ka. Founded in Warsaw in 1858 as an iron foundry by Count Andrzej Artur Zamoyski and run by Konstanty Rudzki, it expanded its activities into construction, steel industry and engineering. At the end of the 19th century, the company with its headquarters in Warsaw and a factory in Mińsk Mazowiecki became one of the largest bridge building companies in Central and Eastern Europe, having approximately 20% of shares in the construction of bridges in the Russian Empire. After World War I, the machine production part of the company was stopped, but engineering and construction activities continued. During its existence, the company was responsible for some innovative bridge structures in the world, including the construction of the Poniatowski Bridge in 1914, the Khabarovsk Bridge in 1916 (2,500 m length, it was considered to be the longest bridge in Europe and Asia for several decades) and the construction of the Maurzyce Bridge in 1927, the first welded road bridge in the world.

The odds were that this man would pursue his aim decisively and irresistibly, which he proved later. At first, Władysław conformed with his father's wish to run a farm of the Przegaliny family estate and despite the lack of special agricultural education, he successfully mastered the hardships and problems of the landed gentry. This provided him with a material basis for putting into practice and realizing his purely scientific passions.  

The skillfully managed farm brought prosperity which Szaniawski later used for purposes of great scientific value. During his travels around Europe he collected everything that would later contribute to increasing the value and improving the efficiency of the emerging scientific institution. Władysław created a mechanical workshop in Przegaliny, fully equipped with a lot of accurate instruments, such as lathes, machines for cutting cogs and gearwheels, etc. The scientist made various mechanical and electrical instruments, among others, an instrument to determine the direction and speed of the wind. An announcement about this device was made by Professor Wł. Gorczyński at a meeting of the Warsaw Scientific Society in 1910, where they fully recognized its extraordinary convenience and precision as a meteorological instrument. It was the so-called anemophone that allows you to measure wind speed and direction by ear from a distant or inaccessible anemometer.  

Władysław Szaniawski had established a well-equipped second-class meteorological station in Przegaliny, which he ran himself for many years. It is worth mentioning that Szaniawski made two large pendulum clocks with compensating pendulums, made of metal bars. One of them showed the phases of the Moon. Szaniawski also built two large striking tower clocks, one of these clocks is located in the Żelechów church (Garwoliński district), while the larger one, striking hours, half-hours and quarters, was donated to the church in Komarówka Podlaska (Radzyński district). Unfortunately, the Russians blew up the latter one along with a tower with the use of pyroxylin in 1915.

Astronomical Observatory  

Władysław Szaniawski considered all his research and activities to date as an introduction, as preparation for greater, higher work, for his ultimate love, i.e. astronomy. In 1909, Szaniawski built an astronomical observatory in Przegaliny. A single-storey, rectangular building with a slot in the roof - which was the observatory's meridian room, housing the meridian wheel of the Parisian Mailhat factory with an 81 mm lens. An integral complement to this wheel was a precise pendulum clock. This is the instrumentation used to determine the exact time, indispensable in every observation room. There was also a Riefler clock with a steel-nickel pendulum, with electric winding. This clock provided a second contact and was connected to the refractor's clock mechanism in order to synchronize it. However, the main tool of the observatory and its real pride was the wonderful refractor, the largest and most beautiful in Poland at that time. The main telescope with a 20 cm Zeiss lens and 310 cm focal length housed two excellent astro cameras for sky photography. The "astrotessar" astrocamera lenses were 12 cm in diameter and had a focal length of 60 cm each. There was also a 108 mm Steinheil telescope fixed to the main telescope, used to guide the refractor while taking photos at the focus of the main telescope. This entire tool, looking extremely impressive and imposing, was housed in a separate dome, made in a factory in Warsaw. The whole thing was complemented by a very accurate, one of the best of its kind, Repsold’s film measuring device. A detailed description of the tools can be found in the article by W. Szaniawski in "Wiadomości Matematyczne", Volume XV, pp. 263 - 268.

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