Prof. dr. Maciej Nalecz

On the Occasion of the 80th Birthday

Prof. Maciej Nalecz is a distinguished scientist, full professor, doctor honoris, member of the Polish Academy of Science (among others), founder and chairman of institutions dedicated to biocybernetics and biomedical engineering, author of a number of scientific papers and books, awarded by the highest Polish awards for scientific achievements...... and so much more.

But Maciej Nalecz I would like to speak on is Maciej, a friend and a person you can lean on and ask for advice and support. Always kind and obliging, calm and sophisticated. This is Maciej I met when I first visited Warsaw and this is Maciej who welcomed us when we arrived to Warsaw this April on the occasion of celebration of Maciej's 80th birthday.

The celebration was organised in the Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a cluster of modern buildings built after 1975, all "children" of Prof. Nalecz. It's not only the buildings that impress, but also the spirit of research and science speaking from each square centimetre of that space.

In the morning of April 26, 2002, the large congress hall of the International Centre for Biocybernetics was full of guests who came to a meeting of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering) devoted to the celebration of 80th birthday of Prof. Maciej Nalecz. Finally, the celebration was opened and a large number of distinguished speakers coming from Polish political, scientific and medical institutions and from all over the world spoke with respect and warmth on Maciej's life, work and activities on peace-keeping and disarmament. We have also seen a videotape of the speech Prof. Nalecz held in the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Pugwash organisation, and J. Rotblat, during the celebration in the Concert Hall in Oslo, in 1995. Prof. Dov Jaron expressed best wishes to Prof. Nalecz and spoke of his long and healthy life on behalf of the IFMBE. Prof. Marcello Bracale spoke on the activities of Prof. Nalecz within the IFMBE and showed many beautiful photos of scientific events that were inspired, organised and visited by Prof. Nalecz.

Among all the presents Prof. Nalecz got during the celebration, there was this one particular present from prof. Zibin Yang from China: it was a calligraphic picture of a letter symbolising the best wishes for a long and happy life, painted in red, and all over the red letter there were painted another hundred letters, all different, symbolising the same wish: Just like the whole opus of Prof. Nalecz, and the hundreds of his contribution to biomedical engineering and the welfare!

R. Magjarevic

Professors M. Bracale, J. Nagel and D. Jaron at the celebration of 80th birthday of Prof. M. Nalecz