Ignacy Łukasiewicz Polish Armenian pharmacist, engineer, business

[MosJan]

Jan Józef Ignacy Łukasiewicz (Polish pronunciation: [iɡˈnat͡sɨ wukaˈɕɛvit͡ʂ]; 8 March 1822 – 7 January 1882) was a Polish pharmacist, engineer, businessman, inventor, and philanthropist. He was one of the most prominent philanthropists in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, crown land of Austria-Hungary. He was a pioneer who in 1856 built the world's first modern oil refinery.[1][2][3]

His achievements included the discovery of how to distill kerosene from seep crude 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)

 

Ignacy Łukasiewicz was born on 8 March 1822 in Zaduszniki, near Mielec, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in the Austrian Empire (after the Partitions of Poland) as the youngest of five children. His family was of Armenian origin.[1][2][4] His parents were Apolonia, née Świetlik, and Józef Łukasiewicz, a member of the local intelligentsia nobility entitled to use the Łada coat of arms and a veteran of Kościuszko's Uprising. The family rented a small manor in Zaduszniki, but soon after Ignacy's birth financial difficulties forced them to relocate to the nearby city of Rzeszów. There Ignacy entered the local secondary school (Konarski's Gymnasium), but failed to pass the examinations and left in 1836. In order to help his parents and financially support all the relatives, he moved to Łańcut, where he began work as a pharmacist's assistant. Toward the end of his life, Łukasiewicz often described his childhood as happy; the home atmosphere was patriotic and somewhat democratic, and he commonly recalled his first tutor, Colonel Woysym-Antoniewicz, who resided in their house.

Involvement in political movements.

Upon moving to Łańcut, Łukasiewicz also became involved in several political organizations that supported the idea of restoring Polish sovereignty and independence and participated in many political gatherings around the area. In 1840 he returned to Rzeszów, where he continued working at Edward Hübl's private pharmacy. In 1845 he met diplomat and activist Edward Dembowski, who admitted Łukasiewicz to the illegal "Centralization of the Polish Democratic Society", a party that focused on radical policies and supported a revolt against the Austrian government. The organization's aim was to prepare an all-national uprising against all three partitioning powers. Since the movement was seen as a possible danger to the Austrian monarchy, on 19 February 1846 Łukasiewicz and several other members of the party were arrested by the Austrian authorities and imprisoned in the city of Lwów. However, on 27 December 1847 Łukasiewicz was released from prison due to lack of evidence, but for the rest of his life he was regarded as "politically untrustworthy" and often observed by local police that was in possession of his records. He was also ordered to remain in Lwów with his elder brother Franciszek.

Career as chemist
On 15 August 1848 he was employed at one of the biggest and best pharmacies in Austrian Galicia (so-called "Austrian Poland"); the Golden Star (Pod Złotą Gwiazdą) Pharmacy in Lviv, modern-day Ukraine, owned by Piotr Mikolasch. In 1850, a handheld pharmaceutical almanac and a precious document entitled manuskrypt, the joint work of Mikolasch and Łukasiewicz was published. Because of this achievement, the authorities granted him a permit to continue pharmaceutical studies at the Royal Jagiellonian University in Kraków. After several years of studies, financed mostly by Mikolasch, he passed all his university examinations except for that in pharmacognosy, which prevented him from graduating. Finally on 30 July 1852 Łukasiewicz graduated from the pharmacy department at the University of Vienna, where he earned a master's degree in pharmaceutics. As soon as he returned to the pharmacy of Piotr Mikolasch in Lviv he began a new phase of his life devoted to the studies of exploiting kerosene.

Galician oil wells

Oil wells, Grabownica Starzeńska, 1930s
Petroleum industry and oil lamp
While oil was known to exist for a long time in the Subcarpathian-Galician region, it was more commonly used as an animal drug and lubricant, but Łukasiewicz, John Zeh and Mikolasch were the first to distill the liquid in Galicia and in the world and were able to exploit it for lighting and create a brand new industry. In autumn of 1852 Łukasiewicz, Mikolasch and his colleague John Zeh analyzed the oil, which was provided in a few barrels by traders from the town of Drohobych. After pharmaceutical methods and processes the purified oil was obtained and sold in the local pharmacies, but the orders were small due to high prices. In early 1854 Łukasiewicz moved to Gorlice, where he continued his work. He set up many companies together with entrepreneurs and landowners. That same year, he opened the world's first oil "mine" at Bóbrka, near Krosno (still operational as of 2020). At the same time Łukasiewicz continued his work on kerosene lamps. Later that year, he set up the first kerosene street lamp in Gorlice's Zawodzie district. In subsequent years he opened several other oil wells, each as a joint venture with local merchants and businessmen. In 1856 in Ulaszowice, near Jasło, he opened an "oil distillery" — the world's first industrial oil refinery. As demand for kerosene was still low, the plant initially produced mostly artificial asphalt, machine oil, and lubricants. The refinery was destroyed in an 1859 fire, but was rebuilt at Polanka, near Krosno, the following year.

Later life and death
Łukasiewicz married, in 1857, his niece Honorata Stacherska and after losing their only daughter, Marianna, the couple adopted Walentyna Antoniewicz.

By 1863 Łukasiewicz, who had moved to Jasło in 1858, was a wealthy man. He openly supported the January 1863 Uprising and financed help for refugees. In 1865 he bought a large manor and the village of Chorkówka. There he established yet another oil refinery. Having gained one of the largest fortunes in Galicia, Łukasiewicz promoted the development of the oil industry in the areas of Dukla and Gorlice. He gave his name to several oil-mining enterprises in the area, including oil wells at Ropianka, Wilsznia, Smereczne, Ropa, and Wójtowa. He also became a regional benefactor and founded a spa resort at Bóbrka, a chapel at Chorkówka, and a large church at Zręcin.

As one of the best-known businessmen of his time, Łukasiewicz was elected to the Galician Sejm. In 1877 he also organized the first Oil Industry Congress and founded the National Oil Society. Ignacy Łukasiewicz died in Chorkówka, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, on 7 January 1882 of pneumonia and was buried in the small cemetery at the nearby (3 kilometers) Zręcin, next to the Gothic Revival church he had financed.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_%C5%81ukasiewicz#/media/File:Ignacy_Lukasiewicz.jpg

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_lamp

 

In 1846, Abraham Pineo Gesner invented a substitute for whale oil for lighting, distilled from coal. Later made from petroleum, kerosene became a popular lighting fuel. Modern and most popular versions of the paraffin lamp were later constructed by Polish inventor and pharmacist Ignacy Łukasiewicz, in Lviv in 1853.[6][7][8][9] It was a significant improvement over lamps designed to burn vegetable or sperm oil.

 

[MosJan]

https://culture.pl/en/article/ignacy-lukasiewicz-the-generous-inventor-of-the-kerosene-lamp

 

 

Ignacy Łukasiewicz: The Generous Inventor of the Kerosene Lamp

 

Gorlice, the place where the first kerosene street lamp was lit, photo: Daniel Pach / Forum

At the turn of 1853 and 1854, Łukasiewicz decided to move to the town of Gorlice where he could lease a pharmacy of his own. There he continued to work on the distillation of oil and the development of the kerosene lamp. In 1854, thanks to Łukasiewicz, the world’s first kerosene street lamp was lit the town of Gorlice – it illuminated an outdoor shrine.

[MosJan]

In the 19th century, a Polish pharmacist invented the kerosene lamp – a device that quickly went on to light up Europe. He also went on to open the first oil mine and kerosene refinery in the world, becoming a pioneer of the oil business. But business wasn’t his only forte: he became a philanthropist and was a pillar of his community. Meet Ignacy Łukasiewicz.

 

Top grades

Thumbnail

Photographic portrait of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, photo: Foka / Forum

Ignacy Łukasiewicz was born in a small wooden manor in the village of Zaduszniki in southern on 8th March 1822. The building was leased by his parents, Apollonia and Józef, a gentry couple of modest means and patriotic traditions. Ignacy was the youngest of five siblings, he had two brothers and two sisters. He was given the names Jan Boży Józef Ignacy but as an adult was only known by the latter.

 

In 1830, the family moved to Rzeszów as Ignacy’s father had fallen ill and had to undergo medical treatment. At the age of ten, Ignacy began attending school in Rzeszów, where he was a straight-A student:

 

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Ignacy was a good student, he mostly achieved top grades (…).

 

From ‘Szejk z Galicji. Ignacy Łukasiewicz 1822-1882’, a 2007 book by Włodzimierz Bonusiak, trans. MK

In 1836, Ignacy’s father passed away putting the Łukasiewicz family in a difficult financial position. Ignacy was forced to discontinue his education and look for a job. The fourteen-year-old found employment at a pharmacy in the town of Łańcut, where he became a trainee.

 

Taciturn & tenacious

A black and white photograph of a room with a number of connected metal containers.

Piotr Mikolasch’s pharmacy in Lviv, where Ignacy Łukasiewicz began to refine oil, 1850, photo: Foka / Forum

 

At the pharmacy Łukasiewicz learned not only about medicines but also about botany and chemical analysis. After four years of work as a trainee, he passed a professional exam which allowed him to become an assistant pharmacist. In that capacity he got a job at Edward Hübel’s pharmacy in Rzeszów in 1841. Łukasiewicz had moved back to take care of his mother.

 

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The pharmacist Jan Royss, who was employed at that pharmacy, characterised Łukasiewicz as a man of kind heart, eager to help his family and take care of his sick mother. Ignacy Łukasiewicz is taciturn, tenacious and extremely hard working.

 

From ‘Ignacy Łukasiewicz 1822-1882. Życie, Dzieło i Pamięć’, a 2004 book by Józef Zbigniew Sozański, trans. MK

Back in Rzeszów, Łukasiewicz became involved with an underground group preparing an insurgency seeking to restore Poland’s independence. This group gathered information about Austrian military forces and spread the idea of an uprising. Łukasiewicz’s workplace, where various people could show up without raising suspicion, served as a contact point.

 

Eventually, however, the group of would-be insurgents was detected by the Austrian authorities and, as a result, in 1846 Łukasiewicz was sent to prison. He spent nearly two years there, after which he was released due to a lack of evidence conclusively linking him to the plot to organise an uprising. Łukasiewicz moved in with his brother Franciszek in Lviv. It took him eight months to find a job as an assistant pharmacist at the pharmacy of Piotr Mikolasch. This place was equipped with a proper laboratory used for conducting chemical analyses and was one of the best pharmacies in Lviv.

 

In the years 1850-52, Łukasiewicz took a hiatus from his job to study pharmacy, first at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and later at the University of Vienna. After receiving his diploma, he returned to Lviv to work at Mikolasch’s establishment.

 

A new illumination

A number of different kerosene lamps on a table.

Kerosene lamps at the Warsaw Gasworks Museum, photo: Joanna Borowska / Forum

 

In 1852, Mikolasch bought about a hundred kilograms of oil and asked his workers, Łukasiewicz and Jan Zeh, to conduct a chemical analyses of it. The duo managed to obtain an expensive skin ointment known as Oleum Petrae album but the product didn’t sell well due to its high price.

 

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But Łukasiewicz and Zeh continued to experiment with the oil. That same year, they managed to distil the oil to obtain kerosene. Historian Prof. Andrzej Notkowski noted in a 2002 Polish Radio broadcast:

 

This was the world’s first, methodical distillation of oil carried out using laboratory, scientific methods.

 

From polskieradio.pl, trans. MK

Later, together with the Lviv tinsmith Adam Bratkowski, Łukasiewicz designed a special lamp that used kerosene as fuel – and so the first kerosene lamp in the world was created! It’s earliest documented use occurred in March 1853 at Mikolasch’s pharmacy.

 

It wasn’t long before Łukasiewicz’s invention started to attract attention. In July, kerosene lamps were being used for lighting at the Lviv hospital. The institution purchased 500 kilograms of kerosene from Łukasiewicz, Mikolasch and Zeh to be able to fuel its new modern lighting system. In the following years, the kerosene lamp became extremely popular across Europe and manufacturers began popping up in cities like Vienna, Budapest or Leipzig.

 

The light of a kerosene lamp was only slightly stronger than that of an oil lamp […], but the fuel for it was cheap and easily accessible, and thanks to this it became a popular lighting device, one that even the impoverished social classes could afford.

 

From ‘Szejk z Galicji. Ignacy Łukasiewicz 1822-1882’, trans. MK

They were, therefore, a game changer. Kerosene lamps were most prevalent in the years 1860-1920.

 

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Becoming an oil man

A lamp next to a religious figure on top of a column.

Gorlice, the place where the first kerosene street lamp was lit, photo: Daniel Pach / Forum

 

At the turn of 1853 and 1854, Łukasiewicz decided to move to the town of Gorlice where he could lease a pharmacy of his own. There he continued to work on the distillation of oil and the development of the kerosene lamp. In 1854, thanks to Łukasiewicz, the world’s first kerosene street lamp was lit the town of Gorlice – it illuminated an outdoor shrine.

 

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That same year, our inventor was visited by Tytus Trzecieski, who informed him that there were substantial deposits of oil in the village of Bóbrka located about 40 kilometres to the west of Gorlice – oil was spurting out of the ground in a local forest. By the end of 1854, Łukasiewicz and Trzecieski began mining in Bóbrka; the owner of the forest, Karol Klobassa, had allowed them to operate there – the first oil mine in the world had opened.

 

The mine in Bóbrka started out as a 100 metre long and 1,2 metre deep ditch dug in a place where abundant outflows occurred and patches of thickened oil appeared on the surface. […] Water accumulated in the ditch, carrying on its surface a layer of oil which was gathered into vessels.

 

‘Ignacy Łukasiewicz 1822-1882. Życie, Dzieło i Pamięć’ by Józef Zbigniew Sozański, 2004, trans. MK

Although Łukasiewicz continued to be active as a pharmacist, he was now also an oil man. Eventually, the mine in Bóbrka started producing so much oil that he decided to open a facility dedicated to processing it. In 1856, Łukasiewicz opened a refinery in the village of Ulaszowice (today’s Jasło), which was the first kerosene refinery in the world. He began manufacturing and selling oil products such as kerosene, oil for lubricating machines and asphalt. By 1859 he had a contract to supply the Austrian railways with kerosene.

 

More than a businessman

A black and white photo of a small palace behind trees and shrubs.

Ignacy Łukasiewicz’s palace in Chorkówka, photo: szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl

 

The death of his daughter Marianna and a fire that broke out at the Ulaszowice refinery caused Ignacy Łukasiewicz to reconsider his involvement in the oil business, however, Trzecieski managed to dissuade him.

 

Around 1861 a new, large deposit of oil was found in Bóbrka and Łukasiewicz, Trzecieski and Klobassa formed a company in order to mine it together. Soon they were making great profits from it. Łukasiewicz then opened a new refinery in Polanka and later another in Chorkówka.

 

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In order to modernise his mines, Łukasiewicz consulted with experts on geology and drilling. This resulted in the introduction of the steam drilling machine in Bóbrka, which allowed for drilling as deep as 240 metres deep.

 

At his refineries, he obtained kerosene of very high quality. Apparently, news of his product got out, and he was soon visited by a delegation of American oilmen who wanted to learn from his expertise. Legend has it, that one of the visitors was non-other-than John D. Rockefeller himself.

 

But Ignacy Łukasiewicz was more than just a successful businessman. He was also a very supportive employer and a pillar of his community.

 

Just after his company started to turn a substantial profit, Łukasiewicz began to substantially finance the building of schools, roads, bridges, hospitals and churches. […] He battled poverty and alcoholism in his region. In Chorkówka and Bóbrka, he opened schools for girls, paid for the teachers and gave the country folk access to high quality education for their children.

 

From klubjagiellonski.pl, trans. MK

Łukasiewicz paid his workers high salaries and introduced a system of insurance for them, which was a novelty at the time. Three percent of the workers’ wages were automatically transferred to a special fund which provided healthcare for the sick, relief for those affected by a house fire and family pensions in the case of an employee’s death.

 

For his charitable activities Łukasiewicz was awarded the Order of St. Gregory and the title of Papal Chamberlain by Pope Pius IX.

 

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A selfless pioneer

[MosJan]

The Ignacy Łukasiewicz PTTK Regional Museum
One of the museum rooms is devoted to Ignacy Łukasiewicz. Valuable keepsakes of Łukasiewicz include the apothecary alembic (a device used for the petroleum distillation) and the prototype of the world’s first kerosene lamp.

 

http://www.gorlice.pl/files/images/zabytki_atrakcje/muzeum_regionalne_03.jpg

 

https://www.gorlice.pl/pl/420/0/oil-industry-in-gorlice.html?out=print

[MosJan]

Shrine of the Pensive Christ at the intersection of Węgierska and Kościuszki Street – at a place where the first in the world street kerosene lamp was lit
The world’s first street oil lamp was ignited in Gorlice in 1854. It was placed on a barrel-shaped shrine with the Pensive Christ under a baldachin. The shrine stands at the intersection of Węgierska and Kręta Street ever since, reminding us about the epochal event. The Shrine was constructed in 1850, whereas the statue itself comes from 1573. The original figure can be seen in the PTTK Regional Museum. The legend says that the sculpture was brought to Gorlice by a river during a flood.

 

http://www.gorlice.pl/files/images/Kapliczka%20na%20zawodziu-Jacenty%20Spyra%282%29.jpg

[MosJan]

The Monument of the Millennium of the Polish State at Legionów Street
The Monument was designed by Marian Konieczny and Włodzimierz Kunz. It represents sculptures of Ignacy Łukasiewicz, Marcin Kromer, a figure of a driller and a mother with a child. It was erected in 1966 on the millennium anniversary of the creation of the Polish State.

 

http://www.gorlice.pl/files/images/zabytki_atrakcje/tysiac.jpg

[MosJan]

„The Łukasiewicz’s bench” in front of the Town Hall
The ceremonial unveiling of the Łukasiewicz’s bench, designed by Zdzisław Tohl, took place on 7 April 2013 at the Market Square. Ignacy Łukasiewicz was the originator of the petroleum industry and the inventor of the oil lamp. From 1853 to 1858 he lived and worked in Gorlice. He was running an apothecary in the building of today’s Town Hall. Thanks to him, the world’s first street oil lamp was ignited at the intersection of Kościuszki and Wegierska Street.

 

http://www.gorlice.pl/files/images/zabytki_atrakcje/aweczka%20%C5%81ukasiewicza%20w%20Gorlicach.jpg

[MosJan]

https://allinnet.info/people/ignacy-lukasiewicz/

 

 

Ignacy Łukasiewicz – The Kerosene Lamp Creator Of Armenian Descent

 

 

Ignacy Łukasiewicz (March 8, 1822 – January 7, 1882) is known to the world as the creator of the kerosene lamp. Łukasiewicz was a son of an Armenian family that had settled in Poland, and the surname “Łukasiewicz” is the Polish form of the Armenian surname “Ghukasyan” (Ղուկասյան).

Even in childhood, Ignacy was deeply interested in chemistry and medicine. He worked as an assistant pharmacist in the Polish city of Rzeszow. At the same time, he attended secret meetings of national Polish groups, for which he would be arrested in 1846 by the Austrian authorities and sentenced to two years of imprisonment.

In 1848, Ignacy Łukasiewicz returned to his beloved profession and went to work at the Lviv pharmacy “Under the Golden Star”. The director of the pharmacy was an Armenian Peter Mikolashi (Mikaelyan) who patronized Łukasiewicz and helped him enter the Krakow Jagiellonian University. Later at the University of Vienna, Łukasiewicz received a master’s degree.

After completing his studies, Łukasiewicz returned to Lviv and continued working in the same pharmacy. In the laboratory of this pharmacy, he began experiments on the distillation of crude oil to create new drugs.

In 1853, as a result of the distillation of crude oil, Łukasiewicz obtained a yellowish oily liquid (kerosene) which, unfortunately, couldn’t be used in pharmacology. However, during his experiments, he discovered that kerosene, unlike oil, when burning, gave more light and emitted less harmful substances.

Łukasiewicz invented a kerosene lamp model and patented it in 1854 in Germany. The kerosene lamp created by Ignacy Łukasiewicz instantly became famous. It would illuminate entire Europe and America until the advent of electricity.