physics

Karol Olszewski

Karol Olszewski is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Karol Olszewski rather than just read about it. In short: Karol Stanisław Olszewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkarɔl ɔlˈʂɛfskʲi]; 29 January 1846 – 24 March 1915) was a Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist. Together with Zygmunt Wróblewski, in 1883 he was the first scientist in the world to liquify oxygen and nitrogen.

Key takeaways

Karol Olszewski belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Karol Olszewski to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Karol Olszewski from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Karol Stanisław Olszewski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkarɔl ɔlˈʂɛfskʲi]; 29 January 1846 – 24 March 1915) was a Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist. Together with Zygmunt Wróblewski, in 1883 he was the first scientist in the world to liquify oxygen and nitrogen.

Life and career He was born in 1846 in Broniszów. He was a graduate of Kazimierz Brodziński High School in Tarnów (I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Kazimierza Brodzińskiego). He studied at Kraków's Jagiellonian University in the departments of mathematics and physics, and chemistry and biology. He carried out his first experiments using a personally improved compressor, compressing and condensing carbon dioxide. Olszewski defended his doctoral dissertation at Heidelberg University, then returned to Kraków, where he was made profesor nadzwyczajny (associate professor). In 1883, Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski were the first in the world to liquefy oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a stable state (not, as had been the case up to then, in a dynamic state in the transitional form as vapor). In 1884, in his Kraków laboratory, Olszewski was the first to liquefy hydrogen in a dynamic state, achieving a record low temperature of −225 °C (48 K). In 1895 he liquefied argon. He then failed only to liquefy the newly discovered helium element. In January 1896, on hearing of Wilhelm Röntgen's work with X-rays, within a few days Olszewski replicated it. Later on, in early February he provided an X-ray image of a luxated elbow thus initiating the university's department of radiology. He died on 24 March 1915 and was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków. In 2018, his ashes were transferred to one of Poland's National Pantheons located at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the Old Town district of Kraków. According to physicist Andrzej Kajetan Wróblewski, Olszewski is among the greatest Polish physicists of the 20th century alongside Marie Curie, Marian Smoluchowski, Jerzy Pniewski, and Marian Danysz.

See also Timeline of low-temperature technology Timeline of hydrogen technologies List of Poles

Notes

References

"Olszewski, Karol Stanisław," Encyklopedia Polski, p. 464.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Karol Olszewski

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Karol Olszewski claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Karol Olszewski before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Karol Olszewski ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Karol Olszewski

In research: Karol Olszewski appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Karol Olszewski in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Karol Olszewski is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1846 births, 1915 deaths, 19th-century Polish chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Karol Olszewski outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Karol Olszewski” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Karol Olszewski in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Karol Olszewski means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Karol Olszewski out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karol Olszewski in simple terms?

Why does Karol Olszewski matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Karol Olszewski?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Karol Olszewski.