Ignacy Łukasiewicz
| Ignacy Łukasiewicz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 8 March 1822 |
| Died | 7 January 1882 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Pharmacist, founder of the modern petroleum industry, inventor of the modern kerosene lamp |
Jan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [wukaˈɕɛvʲitʂ]; 8 March 1822 – 7 January 1882) was a Polishpharmacist and petroleum industry pioneer who in 1856 built the world's first oil refinery. His achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep oil, the invention of the modern kerosene lamp (1853), the introduction of the first modern street lamp in Europe (1853), and the construction of the world's first modern oil well (1854).
Łukasiewicz became a wealthy man and one of the most prominent philanthropists in Central Europe's Galicia. Because of his support for the region's economic development, a popular saying attributed all paved roads to his guldens.
Ignacy Łukasiewicz was born on 8 March 1822 in Zaduszniki, near Mielec, in the Austrian Empire (after the partition of Poland) as the youngest of five children. His family had Armenian origins and his parents were Apolonia, née Świetlik, and Józef Łukasiewicz, a member of the local intelligentsia nobility entitled to use and a veteran of Kościuszko's Uprising. They rented a small manor in Zaduszniki, but soon after Ignacy's birth the family was forced to relocate to nearby city of Rzeszów due to financial difficulties. There Ignacy entered the local secondary school (Konarski's Gymnasium), but failed to pass the exams and left in 1836. In order to help his parents and financially support all of the relatives, he moved to Łańcut, where he began work as a pharmacist's assistant in a chemist. Towards the end of his life Łukasiewicz often described his childhood as happy; the atmosphere at home was patriotic and somewhat democratic and he commonly recalled his first tutor, Colonel Woysym-Antoniewicz, who was also a resident in their house.
...
Wikipedia