Jan Czochralski: The Polish Scientist Who Enabled Smartphones
Without this invention, there would be no smartphones, laptops, or any modern electronics. The technology of growing single crystals was initially just a curiosity. Today, its discoverer, Jan Czochralski – little known in his homeland – is the most cited Polish scholar.
Mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, mp3 players, portable game consoles, and other electronic devices are based on single crystals produced with the Czochralski method.
Jan Czochralski was born on October 23, 1885, in Kcynia, a small town in the Prussian partition near Bydgoszcz, into a respected family of carpenters. He was the eighth of ten children. Because his father did not like his risky chemical experiments, at only 16 years old Jan moved to Krotoszyn, where he started working in a pharmacy. In 1904 he moved to Berlin and found employment in the laboratories of Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG). While working, he continued his education and in 1910 received his chemical engineering degree at the Charlottenburg Polytechnic in Berlin.
In 1916, Czochralski made the discovery that years later proved to be his greatest achievement: he developed a method for measuring the rate of crystallization of metals. According to an anecdote, while distracted, he accidentally dipped his pen into a crucible of molten tin rather than his inkwell. He pulled his pen out to discover a thin thread of solidified metal. The method of producing single crystals by pulling, initially of interest only to metallurgists, is now widely used in the production of crystals, especially semiconductors used to build transistors in electronics.
In 1924, another important Czochralski invention emerged: an alloy highly suitable for the production of sliding bearings for railways, later known as Bahnmetal or B-metal. The alloy did not contain expensive and difficult-to-obtain tin. The patent was immediately bought by the German railroad. B-metal allowed the speed of trains to be increased and significantly expanded railways in Germany, Poland, the United States, the UK, and the Soviet Union. Fame and money followed the success. In 1925, Czochralski became president of the German Society for Metals Science.
The Polish scholar caught the interest of Henry Ford, founder of the famous car manufacturer. Ford invited Czochralski to visit his factories and then offered him the position of director of a newly founded duralumin factory. Although the offer was tempting, Czochralski refused. In 1928, at the request of the president of Poland and outstanding chemist Ignacy Mościcki, Czochralski returned permanently to his homeland. He became a contracted professor at Warsaw University of Technology, and in November 1929 he received an honorary doctorate. In the following year, he was awarded the title of full professor by the Polish president. He renounced his German citizenship, but the procedure was not formally completed.
In 1932, Czochralski bought a Neoclassical palace in Warsaw at Nabielaka Street, which became a meeting place for persons in government and the arts. Regulars included Ludwik Solski, Karol Roztworowski, and Kornel Makuszyński. Professor Czochralski funded scholarships for students, provided financial assistance for the reconstruction of Chopin’s manor in Żelazowa Wola, and co-funded excavations in Biskupin. At Warsaw University of Technology, he organized the Department of Metallurgy and Metal Research at the Faculty of Chemistry.
During World War II, he was head of the Department of Materials Research, one of the university’s eight departments created with the consent of the occupier. The department helped many Polish scientists survive, but also carried out work for the Wehrmacht. Official cooperation with the Germans was undertaken with the resistance authorities’ approval. Czochralski himself repeatedly used his connections and his good financial situation during the war to save not only scientists and artists from Nazi reprisals. The whole family was involved in the help, especially his eldest daughter Leonia.
However, due to the work carried out for the Germans by the department led by Czochralski, immediately after the war the professor was accused of collaboration with the enemy. He was imprisoned in Piotrków Trybunalski for a few months. In the absence of evidence of guilt, the investigation was discontinued. Gustaw Olechowski, former Consul of the Republic, spoke in defence of the accused, testifying to his patriotism. Despite the acquittal by the prosecution, in December 1945 the Warsaw University of Technology authorities stripped Czochralski of his professorship and practically excluded him from the scientific community.
In August 1945, the humiliated Czochralski returned to Kcynia. He founded a small chemical company BION, which manufactured shoe polish, curing salt, and waving fluid. After a brutal search conducted in his villa in Kcynia by the Office of Security, Jan Czochralski suffered a heart attack and died in a hospital in Poznań on 22 April 1953.
Prof. Jan Czochralski was the author or co-author of more than 120 scientific publications, many inventions, and patents. To date, he remains the most cited Polish scholar. His greatest achievement was the method of producing single crystals. It can be assumed that if Prof. Czochralski had lived several years longer to see the boom in semiconductor electronics, Poland would probably have its second Nobel Prize winner in the most prestigious discipline – science.
For many years, Czochralski was omitted in encyclopedia publications – for example, in the 2-volume PWN Great Universal Encyclopedia published in 1967. A short biography appeared only in the supplement, published in 1970. Efforts to rehabilitate Prof. Czochralski were undertaken at the Warsaw University of Technology several times. Only documents found in 2011 allowed the explicit confirmation of the Professor’s collaboration not with the occupier but with the Home Army intelligence. In view of this, after 66 years, the Warsaw University of Technology Senate, in a resolution of June 29, 2011, completely rehabilitated Prof. Czochralski.
Due to the historical conditions, Czochralski was a tragic figure. His patriotic upbringing did not allow him to defend himself, as this would have resulted in accusations against many more people from the circle of the wartime underground Home Army – even cooperation with the Home Army was considered a crime by the authorities at the time.