The Erazm and Anna Jerzmanowski Prize, which was founded under the terms of the last will and testament of Erazm Jerzmanowski in 1908 was presented for the first time by the Academy of Arts and Science in 1915 and for the final time before World War II in 1938. It had a reputation as the ‘Polish Nobel Prize.’ The considerable reserve of capital from which the prize was paid ceased to exist as a result of the war, and the prize was not reactivated after the conflict had ended.
That it was revived in 2008, on the one-hundredth anniversary of its establishment, was thanks to the goodwill of Małopolska Voivodship and to Voivodship Marshal Marek Navara in particular.
It was awarded for the first time after World War II on 9 February 2009 – almost exactly on the one-hundredth anniversary of the death of Erazm Jerzmanowski (7 February 1909). The prize is awarded in the Senatorial Hall of the Royal Castle at Wawel and is regarded as conferring a great deal of prestige.
On the occasion of the four-hundredth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus' birth in 1873, the Municipality of Kraków established a foundation in his name and entrusted the Academy of Arts and Sciences with the task of awarding prizes from its funds every five years for work in astronomy and related sciences, namely astrophysics, geodesy, physical geography, earth magnetism, and meteorology. World War II interrupted the awarding of these prizes. Kraków City Council wished to continue this tradition. Therefore, on the five-hundredth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus' attending university in Krakow, it established – by Resolution No. XC/581/93 of 9 July 1993, amended by Resolution No. XXIX/274/95 of 6 September 1995 and Resolution No. XXXVII/971/20 of 11 March 2020 – the Nicolaus Copernicus Prize for astronomy and other sciences practised by Copernicus and entrusted the PAU with the task of awarding it every five years beginning from 1995.
The prize is awarded in nine equal categories to scholars connected with Polish science who, in the five years preceding the year of the award, have published works of outstanding scientific value in the fields of (1) astronomy (2) economics (3) classics (4) natural philosophy (5) cosmology and astrophysics (6) mathematics (7) medicine (8) earth sciences and (9) law.
The prof. Marian Mięsowicz Prize is awarded biennially – by the PAU Council and on the recommendation of Faculty III of PAU – for outstanding achievements in physics. The award is funded by institutes of physics operating in Kraków. It was awarded for the first time in 1997.
The prof. Tadeusz Browicz Prize has been awarded annually since 1998 for outstanding achievements in medicine. It is awarded by the PAU Council on the recommendation of Faculty V of PAU. It has so far been funded by Pliva Pharmaceuticals of Kraków, Novartis Poland, the School of Medicine in English at the Jagiellonian University’s Collegium Medicum, Collegium Medicum itself, and PAU.
The prof. Adam Bielański Prize is awarded biennially by the PAU Council for excellence in chemistry. It is funded by the Jagiellonian University, AGH University of Science and Technology, and the Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Nominations are notified by Faculty III of PAU, the rectors of the Jagiellonian University and AGH University of Science and Technology, and the director of the Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The prof. Adam Bielański Prize was awarded for the first time in 2018.
The Marian Kukiel Prize for the history of military science, which is funded jointly by the heir to General Marian Kukiel’s copyright (the late prof. Leszek Suski) and PAU, was awarded for the first time in 2003.
LAUREAT 2003
Dr Henryk Kotarski
As nominated by the PAU School-Textbook Evaluation Commission, PAU awards annual diplomas to the authors and publishers of the highest rated middle school and secondary school textbooks.
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