The Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, one of the largest nonacademic biological research centres in Poland, celebrates its 100th anniversary. The Institute was established in 1918 by the Scientific Society of Warsaw. In 1945, after World War II, it was re-established in Łódź and in 1952 incorporated into the newly founded Polish Academy of Sciences. During the period of 1953–1955 a newly erected building at 3 Pasteur Street in Warsaw became the home of the Nencki Institute. Today, the Nencki Institute strives for excellence in basic research in the broad sense of biological sciences. Neurosciences and biological and molecular basic of civilization diseases represent two main research areas of the Institute in the context of the society needs to improve the quality of life. One of the strategic activities of the Institute is investments in bio- imaging.This has recently resulted in inclusion of the Institute in the EUROBIOIMAGING project of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). An excellent example of a synergy of basic and innovative studies is the Neurobiology Centre established at the Nencki Institute in 2010–2013 as part of a strategic project entitled the CePT. Additionally, the Nencki Institute trains nearly 200 PhD students under various programmes, including the H2020.

On 7 April 1968 the Club of Rome was established. In 1972 D.H. Meadows, D.L. Meadows, J. Randers and W.W. Behrens published The Limits to Growth as the first report to the Club of Rome – describing various scenarios for world development to 2100. Since that time the Club of Rome has developed in the world wide apolitical movement.

This article, written on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, focuses on the subsequent 100th anniversary of this event and the celebrations in a given historical context and in relation to the perception of the person of Martin Luther. Within 500 years of the memorable speech of the Reformation Father, which initiated the “Protestant reform” movement, at least every consecutive hundred years was celebrated as a special commemoration of this fact, which changed the course of European and World history and moved deeply into Christianity. The individual anniversary of the Reformation should therefore be considered in relation to social and political situation in Europe of that time, especially in Germany. It is no less important to draw attention to the figure of the founder of the Reformed Church, which has always focused, even today, on the celebration of the anniversary of the Reformation. The article presents the main themes of Martin Luther’s life in the context of his reform of Christianity and the basic ideas guiding his thoughts. Then, the development of the Reformation is analyzed, understood as the deepening of doctrine and the stabilization of practice, in the years after the death of the founder of the reform movement. Against this background, successive anniversaries of the Protestant reform are presented with regard to the religious and political situation in Europe and in the world, with particular emphasis on the last anniversary i.e. 500th anniversary of the Reformation and its perception in Protestant Churches as well as in the Catholic Church in the context of the development of the ecumenical movement.

In the article the Author discusses the problem of works devoted to the January Uprising of 1863, prepared by Polish historians for the 50th anniversary of the event. She asks what was the character of the various publications printed on consecutive anniversaries of the uprising, and - more broadly - what were the social functions of these texts. Answering the question. Author claims that these publications had social role going far beyond the traditional, scientific function of a typical historic text

This article is a summary of the author's research into the background, social environment and other elements of Nicolaus Copernicus' biography. The author draws attention to the genesis of the dispute over the astronomer's “nationality” and emphasises his nineteenth-century origins. The author points to the influence of the partitions of Poland on the one hand, and the rise of German nationalism on the other, as the main reasons for its emergence. He emphasises the fact of Copernicus' loyalty to the Polish king and, consequently, Copernicus' historically understood “Polishness”. The author discusses the history of the astronomer's home town - Toruń, its economic and political role in the 13–16th centuries and, in particular, the commercial confederation linking the city and its merchants with Western and Northern Europe, the lands of the Polish Kingdom, Upper Hungary (today's Slovakia) and Silesia. These links indicate the causes and directions of merchant migration that led to the appearance of the Copernicus family in Toruń. The author put forward a thesis on the Westphalian origin of the family of Nicolaus Copernicus' mother, Watzenrode. The family came from the village of Wazerath (in the 15th century Watzenrode), situated near the German- Belgian border. The Watzenrode family arrived in Toruń in the first half of the 14th century together with a wave of migrants from Westphalian towns with Soest and Dortmund at the head. Of the 8 great-grandmothers of Copernicus, 6 came from families directly descended from Westphalia, one from Ruthenia, and one from Livonia. The Watzenrode family belonged to the elite of Toruń's patricians - three of its members were local councillors and three jurors, and five of its representatives went on to study at university. There was a tradition in the family of striving to achieve high social prestige through a clerical career for its members, taken from John Abezier, and continued by the astronomer's uncle, Łukasz Watzenrode, both bishops of Warmia. The astronomer's father's family came from Silesia, not from the village of Koperniki, but from the town of Nysa. The surname “Copernicus” had a professional character, being connected with the mining or processing of copper. In Nysa the Koperniks were recorded in the bench book under the name “Kopersmed”, which was a translation of their Slavic surname into the official language of the books – German. Considered in earlier literature to be the astronomer's grandfather, John Copernicus was probably his father Andrew's cousin. However, he played a significant role in the life of the astronomer's family. It was probably thanks to Jan Nicolaus Copernicus that his father went from Nysa to Cracow for a merchant apprenticeship to Jan Sweidniczer, and later, thanks to the relationship with this merchant, he went to Prussia and settled in Toruń. Nicolaus Copernicus was not the youngest child in his family. This misconception was caused by the order in which the children of Nicolaus and Barbara Copernicus were listed in a genealogical table prepared by the Gdańsk writer Stanisław Bornbach. Earlier biographers of Copernicus considered this order to be chronological, whereas it was alphabetical. In contemporary sources Nicolaus appears twice before his brother Andrew (never in reverse order), which is sufficient evidence for the recognition of his seniority in relation to his brother. The astronomer was born in Toruń, but not in the tenement house at 15 Kopernik Street, where today there is a part of the museum devoted to him. This house belonged to the astronomer's family in the years 1458–1480, but probably already in 1468 they moved to the tenement house at 36 Rynek Staromiejski, half of which belonged to the Watzenrode family already at the end of the 14th century, and the other half was bought by the astronomer's father in 1468. Anna Schilling, hailed in literature as the “lady of the heart” of the astronomer approaching the end of his days, was most probably his cousin from Gdańsk. She was the daughter of Nicolaus Copernicus' cousin. She lived in Frombork as a widow, rather as a carer of her elderly and probably already ailing cousin. The question of Copernicus' place of rest in Frombork Cathedral is still open. The identification of his remains still raises some doubts among researchers, especially anthropologists and geneticists. Despite these reservations, the author concludes that our knowledge of Nicolaus Copernicus' background, youth and private life on the eve of his 550th birthday is much greater than it was even several decades after his death and only a few years ago.

The authors of this paper examine the ancient concepts of translatio, imitatio and aemulatio. The text goes over some problems of the heritage of antiquity and its reception in European culture of the early modern period. These questions were discusssed during the international conference “Heredes et scrutatores. Attitudes towards Antiquity in the Renaissance and in the Early Modern Period”, which was held on 19–20 May 2016 at the University of Warsaw. It celebrated the 200th anniversary of classical studies at this university. The conference seeked to explore the changing attitudes towards the heritage of classical antiquity in post-classical European culture. The scholars participating in the meeting tried to (re)examine the diversity of these attitudes in the period between the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times and to reflect on a number of related problems, among which were the theoretical viewpoints that had been suggested to describe this diversity. One of them, which gave its name to this conference, distinguishes between two general approaches: that of the “users”, concentrated on adapting the classical legacy by means of procedures inherited from the ancient Romans, and that of the “researchers”, which replaced the former procedures with ones typical of scholarly cognition. The participants discussed theoretical issues and concrete cases illustrating the ways that the intellectuals of the Renaissance and Early Modern Times approached the Greek and the Roman legacy. The connections between past and present attitudes towards antiquity have also been be the subject of the debate.

Archives of Environmental Protection is the oldest Polish scientifi c journal regarding environmental engineering and protection. It has been published by the Institute of Environmental Engineering of PAS in Zabrze since 1975. The Committee on Environmental Engineering of PAS became its co-publisher in 2011. The quarterly publishes original articles (earlier, also announcements) concerning broadly understood areas of the environmental engineering and protection. The subjects include: air, land and water protection; technologies of fl ue gases, soil and wastewater treatment; transformations and transportation of pollutants in the environment; measurement techniques used in research and engineering as well as environmental monitoring. The published articles also focus on the reclamation and management of derelict lands, environmental management and other questions related to the environmental engineering and protection. The journal has been abstracted by Thomson Scientific since 2006 in the following databases: Science Citation Index Expanded, Biological Abstracts and BIOSIS Previews. Moreover, the journal was given the impact factor (IF) in 2010. The following article presents statistical data as well as a brief history and description of the journal.

This is an analysis of the commentaries published in the Polish press in the wake of the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the World War II Victory Day in Moscow in 2005. In Poland these commemorations triggered a live debate which focused on the future of Polish-Russian relations, Russia’s strategic goals on the international scene, the Polish Eastern policy and the uses of history as a tool of state policy.

The article presents personal memories of Professor Aleksander Koj’s alumni. Professor Aleksander Koj was a world-class biochemist of significant scientific achievements, a renowned authority in the field of acute-phase response regulation and acute-phase proteins. He was an excellent academic, a true Master, admired and followed by many Polish biochemists. Thrice he served as the Rector of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He navigated the University through a difficult time of political transformation in Poland, modernized the management system of the University and led to the commencement of the construction of the new University campus. He was the co-creator and the first Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland. He will be remembered as a devoted community worker aiming at strengthening the bond between the Polish community abroad and our homeland, propagating knowledge, promoting the concept of European integration, democracy and tolerance, as well as the collaboration between scientists, artists and men and women of culture. He was wise, righteous, and noble. Many had the honor of calling him their friend, and a great many saw in him a moral authority.