Polish Genius : Ignacy Lukasiewicz

Ignacy Łukasiewicz – pharmacist, pioneer of the European oil industry, inventor of the kerosene lamp, independence activist, social activist and philanthropist. He was among the patrons of 2022. The Sejm of the Republic of Poland, when adopting a resolution on this matter, emphasized his contributions to the development of Polish industry and economy, as well as his involvement in the fight for independence. On the 200th anniversary of his birth, we invite you to read the biography of this outstanding Pole.

Ignacy Łukasiewicz's childhood and youth

Ignacy Łukasiewicz was born, according to various sources, on March 8 or 23, 1822 in Zaduszniki near Mielec. He came from an impoverished noble family of Armenian origin with patriotic traditions. His father was a participant in the Kościuszko Uprising. In 1832, he started studying at a junior high school in Rzeszów, but in 1836, after his father's death, he had to drop out of the junior high school due to his financial situation.

Then he started working as a pharmacist's assistant, first in Łańcut, and from 1841 in Rzeszów. He developed the knowledge and skills he acquired during his studies. In the years 1850-1852 he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University, where there was a pharmaceutical study, and also in Vienna, where he obtained a master's degree in pharmacy.

The most important discovery of Ignacy Łukasiewicz. After studies, Ignacy Łukasiewicz went to Lviv. His most important discovery began in the Golden Star pharmacy in Lviv, where he conducted research on crude oil together with Jan Zeh. After purifying this liquid, he obtained kerosene. The first kerosene lamp he designed, made by Lviv tinsmith Adam Bratkowski, illuminated the pharmacy's exhibition. However, the symbolic date of birth of the Polish oil industry is July 31, 1853. That day, a kerosene lamp illuminated a night operation in a hospital in Lviv's Lychakiv district. The lamp itself, or even its drawing, has not survived to this day. At the beginning of 1854, Ignacy Łukasiewicz moved to Gorlice to be closer to the oil-bearing areas. Together with Tytus Trzecieski and Karol Klobassa-Zrencki, he founded the world's first oil company in Bóbrka near Krosno, and two years later the first oil mine in Poland in Ulaszowice. At the Bóbrka mine, he improved the technique of drilling mining holes, introduced a hand drilling rig, and later steam machines to drive drilling rigs.

In Ulaszowice, Ignacy Łukasiewicz also built a refinery that was to purify the raw material mined in Bóbrka. After the fire at the distillery in Ulaszowice, he launched an even larger oil processing plant in Chorkówka near Krosno. When he moved to the Krosno region, Ignacy Łukasiewicz was already a famous person. The kerosene he received from the refinery in Chorkówka was of excellent quality, so it competed on world markets with Romanian or American kerosene. In addition to kerosene, the Polish inventor produced greases and oils for machines, asphalt and a type of paraffin - gudron. These were pioneering achievements on a global scale, which were awarded a medal and a diploma of recognition for services to the oil industry at the Universal Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. In 1877, he organized an oil congress in Lviv and led to the establishment of the Oil Society for the Care and Development of the Oil Industry and Mining in Galicia (from 1880 under the name of the National Oil Society) based in Gorlice, of which he was president in 1881-1882. . The creator of the oil industry did not limit his activities to business matters. Already in his youth, Ignacy Łukasiewicz became involved with independence organizations. In 1845, he became an agent of the Centralization of the Polish Democratic Society. He paid for this in 1846-1847 by being imprisoned by the Austrian authorities in Lviv. He remained under police surveillance for the next few years.

However, he remained a patriot until the end of his life - with his oil income, in 1863 he supported the January insurgents who fought against the Russians in the Kingdom of Poland. He spent the money he earned on equipping insurgent units, and in turn, he provided shelter and help to those wounded during the clashes in his manor house in Chorkówka. He promoted the establishment of courts, the construction of schools and hospitals, churches, roads and bridges, and personally financed many initiatives. He fought against poverty and social problems, and created pension funds for his employees and their families. He also established the Advance Payment Society in Krosno. He organized benefit funds, which were the first such institutions in Europe to protect workers in the event of illness or disability.

In addition, he took care of the development of education and culture, as well as the education of oil industry workers. For his charitable activities, Pope Pius IX awarded him the title of Papal Chamberlain in 1873 and awarded him the Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

From 1876 until his death, Ignacy Łukasiewicz worked intensively as a member of the National Sejm in Lviv. He died in Chorkówka on January 7, 1882 as a result of severe pneumonia. This famous inventor, entrepreneur, politician and social activist was buried in the parish cemetery next to the church in Zręcin, which he founded himself. The year 2022 marks the 140th anniversary of his death.