Focus
FACING THE FUTURE WITH OPTIMISM
T
he paint is peeling off the walls, the stair steps are visibly worn from 50 years of students scurrying to classes, and an old-fashioned padlock and chain secures the gate to the faculty parking lot. Welcome to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw, one of the best research chemistry departments in Poland and a historically important place for analytical chemistry. It was here where Wiktor Kemula and his student Zenon Kublik developed the hanging drop mercury electrode in the late 1950s that helped launch modern electroanalytical chemistry (D
c a m e before? Analytical chemistry What "It is surprising how well [the Polish chemists] are doing," says Janet Osterhas a proud tradition young. "They have quickly bounced back," observes Anna Brajter-Toth, who at Poland's Universityvisited the university last year. "I was very impressed." of Warsaw. Can that favorably Both U.S. scientists are uniquely qualified to judge the changes in Poland and estradition be pecially at the University of Warsaw. Osteryoung has collaborated on and off with maintained? Stojek since 1979. She currently directs
the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Chemistry. As a professor of chemistry at North Carolina State UniAt first glance, the chemistry departversity, Osteryoung led a delegation in ment seems to be another victim of the May 1994 to examinefirsthandthe status economic hard times that have gripped of chemistry research in Poland for the Eastern Europe following the end of comNSF. The delegation's report is still bemunism. Indeed, research funds have ing revised, but a preliminary version exdropped noticeably since the collapse of presses strong support for strengthening communism in Poland in 1989. The departU.S.-Poland scientific ties. "They have a ment, however, has carefully spent its lot of problems, but they have some very scarce resources on supporting its retalented people," adds Osteryoung. search facilities. As a result, in one suite Brajter-Toth's analysis is more perThat optimism is echoed by many of of laboratories sit new 220- and 500-MHz the other analytical chemists within the de- sonal in nature. An analytical chemist on NMR instruments and on another floor a the faculty at the University of Florida at partment. But how realistic is that analyrecently constructed clean houses sis? In April, Analyttcal Chemistry tryveledGainesville, she received her M.Sc. dean automated graphite furnace AA instru- to Warsaw for a firsthand look at the gree from the University of Warsaw in 1974. ment as well as space for a soon-to-be- challenges facing research chemists in the Her mother, Krystyna Brajter, an analytipurchased ICP mass cal chemist noted for her work on ion "new" Poland. (For comparison see box chromatography, was a faculty member "I am an optimist," says electrochemist on p. 423 A which looks at chemistry in Zbigniew Stojek when asked about the fu- Budapest, Hungary.) What we found at the university from 1964 to 1988. (A photure. "We believe that the technical qualtograph of Brajter now hangs in the debacked a guarded optimism. At the same ity of our [scientific] papers is better and time, it raised questions about whether the partment along with other honored faculty that the content of scientific novelty is United States is now effectively supporting members such as Kemula. The photohigher now." Polish chemists during these difficult times. graphs are arranged around a plaque de-
This is thefirstin n series of articles on laboratories in Europe. Upcoming features will cover analytical chemistry at Germany's yational Researcc Centerfor Environment end Health (GSF), the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), and Ciba Geigy in Basel, Switzerland. 420 A
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, July Ju 1996
The imposing entrance to the University of Warsaw's central campus; the chemistry department is located several kilometers away.
picting Poland's most famous chemist, Maria Sklodowska Curie.) To appreciate how far the University ol Warsaw has come, it is important to understand its past. The university emerged from the dark days of World War II with many of its students and faculty dead or gone and an estimated 70% of its buildings destroyed. The small, old central university campus was rebuilt. The chemistry building, which was completed in 1939, was outside the campus and survived the war. Because the government made no effort to create a single new campus (possibly for political reasons or to prevent student criticism) chemistry and many other sciences are today spread over Warsaw and located several kilometers from flie central campus
By the 1970s Poland had developed into a somewhat more open society than
many other communist-led countries. Western journals were common and scientists were allowed to travel and work with western scientists, although the process for getting exit visas was not easy. "I never knew until the last moment whether I could leave," says Stojek. Simple correspondence was also difficult. "It took six weeks to get a letter to the U.S.," recalls Stojek. "I was embarrassed." The slow mail deliveries "killed collaborations" and were a barrier to publishing in western journals. Osteryoung agrees: "It was hard to keep the collaboration going back and forth." Despite the obstacles, Stojek managed several trips to the United States and even brought his family with him. He also published extensively in English language journals and authored 31 articles in international journals from 1976 to 1989. Stojek
credits his "informal" ties with western researchers as one of the keys to his publishing success. Adequate research instrumentation proved to be another problem. Buying western equipment was virtually impossible because the Polish currency, the zloty, was not convertible into western currency. However, there were eastern block instruments. "There were lots of bright ideas in terms of instruments, potentially even better than western instruments " says Stojek. "However, you couldn't repair them the parts weren't of high quality and breakdowns were very often " In the early eighties remembers Stojek he had 10 potentiostats but only four or five were working at one time "Now we have four PAR [Princeton Aoolied Research ] potentiostats We don't need any more They work well"
Analytical Chemistry News & Features, July 1, 1996 4 2 1 A
Focus Communications, too, have improved. Not only is there E-mail, but Warsaw has a special post office that takes air mail letters directly to the airport to expedite delivery. Foreign travel is encouraged, although funding is limited. A few students have even recently come from the west to study and conduct research at Warsaw. "They appreciate our work," says University of Warsaw analytical chemist Adam Hulanicki.
tem is judged, in part, by the number of publications by a researcher multiplied by a journal's citation impact. Thus, publications in western journals such as Analytical Chemistry are highly prized. According to Stojek, the department's total impact factor has been rising at the rate of 20% per year. Furthermore, the history of collaboraWorld-class analytical chemists Zbigniew tion with western scientists has served Pol- Stojek (left) and Adam Hulanicki (right). ish academics well. In a report on research activities in his laboratory from 1989 to 1995, Hulanicki acknowledges A recipe for success [than U.S. scientists]," states Osteryoung, cooperation with 14 western European "but their training is more narrow than Despite the difficulties over the past degroups. Overall, around 40% of the papers ours." In a sense, Stojek agrees. "[In Pocade, chemistry at the University of Warland] I learned how important it was to saw and in the rest of Poland has pros- published by the chemistry department pered. The NSF report finds that an anal- involve a collaborative effort. These types publish real true results, something that of collaborations have kept Polish analytiis reproducible. In the U.S., I learned that ysis of recent publications from all Polish I must publish something very new." chemists places the country 11th in the cal chemists on the cutting edge of such new fields as thin-film electrodes and conworld in terms of total citation impact—a A basic university education takes five remarkable achievement for a nation ducting polymers. years—three years of basic classes with a whose gross national product in 1994 specialization declared in the fourth The analytical chemists at the Univerwas ranked 33rd in the world. The report year—and leads to a master's degree. To sity of Warsaw have also benefited from also cites the research groups of Stojek, the Kemula-Kublik legacy: Stojek earned fulfill part of the master's degree requireHulanicki, and fellow university analytiments in chemistry, students must write a his Ph.D. under Kublik (who still works cal chemist Zbigniew Galus as comprising in the department as an emeritus profesresearch thesis, usually in Polish, but "a globally competitive setting for resome are written in English or German. sor) , and Krystyna Brajter worked for search in electrochemistry." Also the deTypically, a Ph.D. requires four years and Kemula. Electrochemistry remains a partment boasts of high-impact factors for major focus for the department, in part be- involves passing foreign language and published work in theoretical chemistrv economics/philosophy exams. cause electrochemical research is relasuch as t h e predirrion of protein folding tively inexpensive ecmpared with ssudies One consequence of the Polish educaand miantum mprhanical calculations involving spectroscopy or MS, says Hulan- tional system is that its scientists are for small molecules icki. highly sought after around the world. in c e r t a i n a r e a s of or Brajter-Toth is one of a surprisingly large Finally, credit must be given to Poganic chpmistrv and in crystallographv land's educational system. "In general, Pol- group of Polish born and trained scientists Therp are spvpral factors for this sue working outside Poland. According to ish chemists are much better trained CPSS Promotion in Poland's academic
