On the 50th Anniversary of the Archives of Mining Sciences

Author: W. Trutwin

Following the decision of the Polish A cademy of S ciences (PAN ) all papers, in the field of mining and metallurgy, began to appear from 1953, in the quarterly of the Committee of Mining and the Committee of Metallurgy named Archiwum Górnictwa i Hutnictwa (Archives of Mining and Metallurgy).

As the number of papers to be publishedwas growing, the Archiwum Górnictwa (Archives of Mining) became an independent magazine in 1956.

The establishment of the Archives of Mining and Metallurgy in 1953 and later theArchives of Mining in 1953 was prompted by several circumstances.

First, the miningsector in Poland, particularly coal mining, was expanding rapidly at that time and demanding new mining technologies and safety procedures to be put in place.

To cater forthese growing needs, extensive research work was initiated and conducted. Results often had novel and original features even in the world-wide scale. They formed the basis forfurther research and implementations to be put in practical use.

There is no doubts thatthis research work was a continuation of the pre-war school of mining, grouping manyoutstanding scholars, practitioners, academic teachers, which gathered around Prof.Witold Budryk.

The third circumstance that led to the establishment of the Archives ofMining was the foundation of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1952.

The Academy gave mining sciences and research in this field a top priority while Prof. Witold Budrykwas elected founding member of the Academy, and Chairman of the Committee of MiningPAN (1952) and later became the director of the Strata Mechanics Research Institute PAN (1954).

These two organisational units were a part of the Division IV of TechnicalSciences until 1976, afterwards they were transferred to the newly-established Division VII of Earth and Mining Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.