General Info > Michal Oczapowski Medal

The Wood Technology Institute honored with the Michal Oczapowski Medal

During a special session of the Wood Technology Institute Scientific Council on 30th June 2003, the Chairman of the Agricultural, Forestry and Veterinary Sciences Division of the Polish Academy of Sciences Prof. Andrzej Grzywacz, DSc presented the Institute Director Asst. Prof. Wladyslaw Strykowski, PhD with the Michal Oczapowski Medal.

Michal Oczapowski was born in 1788 and died in 1854. He was a university professor at the University in Vilnius, and then organized the Institute of Agronomy in Marymont near Warsaw. He studied in Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. He taught students, organized modern agriculture in Poland, and published many works. His most brilliant work is a 12-volume handbook entitled „A farm” in which much of the information concerning various branches of agriculture is still interesting today. He laid the foundations for agricultural science in Poland.

The chapter of the Michał Oczapowski Medal awards this medal as a token of the highest distinction to persons and institutions who and which have prominently contributed to the development of agricultural, forestry and veterinary sciences in Poland.
The Agricultural, Forestry and Veterinary Sciences Division of the Polish Academy of Sciences awarded the Wood Technology Institute with this medal for the whole of its activity, and especially for developing innovative technologies for converting wood waste into whole products, creation of new generations of veneers, and also for significant contribution to the development of the framework for wood industry economics.
In 2002 the Wood Technology Institute celebrated the 50th anniversary of its establishment. Since the beginning it has conducted works connected with procurement, preservation and processing of wood. In the 60s the Institute was already a coordinator of research and laid out lines of cognitional, design and implementation activities. Many new products, new or improved technologies, machines and machine tools, which were put into business practice, had been developed in the Institute. In recognition of the Institute’s scientific achievements it was awarded, in 1972, the authority to conduct the PhD programmes and grant doctorates in forestry sciences in the scope of the wood industry. Since the beginning of the economic transformation in Poland in the 90s the Institute has been adapting to new circumstances. In 1990 a major restructuring of the Institute took place. As a result of it, among other things, the Marketing Centre of Wood and Furniture Industries was established. The Centre is also an innovative form that motivates business for the benefit of the wood and furniture industries. Since 1996 the accredited Testing Laboratory of Wood, Wood-Based Materials, Packaging, Furniture and Constructions which has Accreditation Certificate No. AB 088 issued by the Polish Centre for Accreditation has been functioning within the Institute’s organizational structure. At the same the Certification Centre of Wood Industry Products which holds Certificate No. AC 098 issued by the Polish Centre for Accreditation is a part of the Institute’s structure. In 2002 the Institute acting as an Office of the National SME Services Network obtained Certificate No. 114/2002 of the National SME Services Network Accreditation in the scope of consultative and training services. The Institute has at its disposal rich library collections concerning the wood industry, including a unique collection of foreign specialist journals. Many of the Institute’s employees act as consultants in various social, scientific and trade organizations.