Antoni Grabowski

Antoni Grabowski (June 11, 1857 in Nowe Dobra, a village 10 km northeast of Chełmno – July 4, 1921 in Warsaw) was a Polish chemical engineer, and an activist of the early Esperanto movement. His translations had an influential impact on the development of Esperanto into a language of literature.

Soon after his birth, Grabowski's family moved from Nowe Dobra to Thorn, Prussia (now Toruń, Poland). Due to his parents' poverty, Grabowski had to start working soon after leaving elementary school. Nevertheless he prepared himself, driven by a great desire to learn, to take the entrance exam for grammar school (Gymnasium), which he passed with flying colours. At the Copernicus School in Thorn, after demonstrating a knowledge far exceeding others of his age, he twice skipped a grade. In 1879, the family's financial situation improved and, after his Abitur exam, Grabowski studied philosophy and natural science at the University of Breslau in Breslau (now Wrocław).

After graduation he worked as a practical chemical engineer in Zawiercie and in locations which now are part of the Czech Republic, and finally as manager of a textile factory in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, 250 km north-east of Moscow.

Meanwhile he continued his in-depth studies into chemical problems. He was known among experts in the field throughout Europe for a multitude of inventions and technological innovations. Grabowski published many articles, including some describing his inventions, in the journals Chemik Polski ("Polish Chemist") and Przegląd Techniczny ("Technical Survey"). During this time he translated a standard chemistry textbook by Ira Remsen from English to Polish. Later Grabowski was appointed to a commission tasked with drawing up Polish technical terminology. A few years later (1906) he published his Słownik chemiczny, the first Polish chemical dictionary.

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