THEODORE E. MADEY (1937 – 2008)

Physical chemist, professor at the New Jersey State University in Rutgers, director of the Surface Modification Laboratory of said University, president of the American Vacuum Society and the International Union for Vacuum Science, Technique and Applications (1992-1995).

Calendar:

• 2003-06-11 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2004-03-10 Promotion to doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Antoni Ciszewski

EUGENE STANLEY (born 1941)

Theoretical physicist, professor at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology and Boston University, director of the Center for Polymer Studies, member of the American Academy of Sciences, awarded, among others, the Boltzmann Medal.

Calendar:

• 2004-01-08 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2004-06-25 Promotion to doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Andrzej Pękalski

BOHDAN PACZYŃSKI (1940 – 2007)

Astrophysicist, astronomer, professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center and the Princeton University, real member of the PAS, foreign member of the American Academy of Sciences, laureate of many prestigious awards, among others the Bruce Gold Medal.

Calendar:

• 2004-10-27 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2005-06-29 Ceremonial signing of the diploma during the session of the Senate of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Jerzy Jakimiec

IWAN OLEKSANDROWICZ WAKARCZUK (1947 – 2020)

Physicist, Ukrainian minister of education and science, in the years 1990-2007 rector of the Lviv University, author of over 200 scientific papers, mostly on condensed phase theory and mathematical methods of Physics.

Calendar:

• 2009-04-24 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2009-11-16 Promotion to doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

ERNST BAUER (born 1928)

In 1958 he left for the United States where he headed the Crystal Growth Workshop at the Michelson Laboratory in China Lake, California. In 1969 he returned to Germany, became a professor and director of the Institute of Physics of the Clausthal University of Technology. In 1991 he began cooperation with the Arizona State University where he has been employed full-term since 1996. In 1958 he developed the thermodynamic theory of epitaxial crystal growth. In 1962 he created low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) that he subsequently developed. This method allows to study the chemical, physical, and magnetic properties of surfaces and nanostructures.

Calendar:

• 2014-01-22 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2014-10-01 Promotion to doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Jan Kołaczkiewicz

HELMUT SATZ (born 1936)

Kalendarium:

• 2014-05-28 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Redlich

SHŪJI NAKAMURA (born 1954)

Professor Shūji Nakamura (born 1954) – American scientist of Japanese descent, creator of blue optoelectronics and energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LED). In 1979 he graduated from Electronic Engineering at the Tokushima University. The same year he started working at Nichia Chemical Industries Ltd., a little-known company at that time. The year 1988 he spent at the Florida State University as a visiting scientist. After returning from the United States, Nakamura conducted research on gallium nitride (GaN) compounds. He was the first person to, in the years 1991–1993, grow high quality InGaN which is an active component of all current blue-green LED diodes. Based on this achievement and the invention of hole conduction in GaN on an industrial scale, in 1994 he presented first blue LED diodes. In the same year he defended his doctoral thesis at the Tokushima University. Two years later he produced the first blue-violet laser diode. However, Nakamura’s achievements were not appreciated by Nichia Corporation, therefore he decided to leave Japan (1999) and he became a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the United States where he is employed to this day. Prof. Shuji Nakamura is without a doubt one of the most prominent contemporary inventors. He is a co-author of over 550 scientific publications and over 420 patents. For his activity he has been awarded many prizes and distinctions, among them the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (2002), Millennium Technology Prize (2006). In 2014, along with prof. Isamu Akasaki and prof. Hiroshi Amano, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Kalendarium:

• 2015-03-15 Resolution of the Senate on awarding the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.
• 2015-09-17 Promotion to doctor honoris causa of the University of Wrocław.

Promoter: prof. dr hab. Detlef Hommel