During times of political turmoil, history often gets rewritten, erased, or lost. That is what happened to the legacy of Jan Czochralski, a Polish chemist whose contributions to semiconductor manufacturing were expunged after World War II.
In 1916 he invented a method for growing single crystals of semiconductors, metals, and synthetic gemstones. The process, now known as the Czochralski method, allows scientists to have more control over a semiconductor’s quality.
After the war ended, Czochralski was falsely accused by the Polish government of collaborating with the Germans and betraying his country, according to an article published by the International Union of Crystallography. The allegation apparently ended his academic career as a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology and led to the erasure of his name and work from the school’s records.
He died in 1953 in obscurity in his hometown of Kcynia.
The Czochralski method was honored in 2019 with an IEEE Milestone for enabling the development of semiconductor devices and modern electronics. Administered by the IEEE History Center and supported by donors, the Milestone program recognizes outstanding technical developments around the world.
Inspired by the IEEE recognition, Czochralski’s grandson Fred Schmidt and his great-grandnephew Sylwester Czochralski launched the JanCZ project. The initiative, which aims to educate the public about Czochralski’s life and scientific impact, maintains two websites—one in English and the other in Polish.
“Discovering the [IEEE Milestone] plaque changed my entire mission,” Schmidt says. “It inspired me to engage with Poland, my family history, and my grandfather’s story [on] a more personal level. The [Milestone] is an important award of validation and recognition. It’s a big part of what I’m building my entire case and my story around as I promote the Jan Czochralski legacy and history to the Western world.”
Schmidt, who lives in Texas, is seeking to produce a biopic, translate a Polish biography to English, and turn the chemist’s former homes in Kcynia and Warsaw into museums. The Jan Czochralski Remembrance Foundation has been established by Schmidt to help fund the projects.
The life of the Polish chemist
Before Czochralski’s birth in 1885, Kcynia became part of the German Empire in 1871. Although his family identified as Polish and spoke the language at home, they couldn’t publicly acknowledge their culture, Schmidt says.
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