Portal:Poland/Did you know
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Did you know...
- ...that the Repnin Sejm of 1767-68 in Poland was so named after the Russian ambassador Nicholas Repnin, who coerced the Sejm (Polish parliament) into accepting his demands?
...that the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station was founded in 1977 and is situated in Admiralty Bay, King George Island?
... that the World War II-era German Enigma machine cipher was broken in December 1932 by the Polish mathematician-cryptologist Marian Rejewski, and that the Polish Cipher Bureau initiated French and British intelligence representatives into the technology and techniques for breaking the German ciphers on July 25, 1939, five weeks before the start of World War II, thereby altering the course of the war?
... that the Polish Renaissance polymath Nicolaus Copernicus, who proposed the modern heliocentric theory of the Solar system, also described "Gresham's Law" of economics—in the very year (1519) that Thomas Gresham was born?
...that in the Polish language the word for "two" can take all of 13 different forms: dwa, dwaj, dwie, dwu, dwóch, dwom, dwóm, dwoma, dwiema, dwoje, dwojga, dwojgu and dwojgiem?
...that, according to Polish folk belief, it is unlucky to marry in a month whose name does not contain the letter "r"? In Polish, such unlucky months are styczeń (January), luty (February), kwiecień (April), maj (May), lipiec (July) and listopad (November).
...that it is traditional to have an additional place setting at the Wigilia (Christmas Eve) table for a stranger?
...that during the partitions of Poland the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau advised Poles: "If you can't prevent being swallowed, then at least make sure they don't digest you"?
...that Poland's last execution took place when a serial killer was hanged in Kraków in 1988, the last year of communist rule?
...that Poland's successive capitals have been at Gniezno, Poznań, Kraków and finally Warsaw?
...that whistling in a Polish theatre or stadium is an expression of an audience's displeasure and is the same as booing or jeering in America?
...that Poland is the only country whose uniformed personnel use a two-finger salute?
...that the semi-legendary Polish sailor Jan z Kolna (John of Kolno) is alleged to have reached the shores of the Americas prior to Columbus, in 1476?
...that the world's highest railway was built in 1871-1876 in the Peruvian Andes by a Polish engineer, Ernest Malinowski?
...that the world petroleum industry was founded by a Pole, Ignacy Łukasiewicz?
...that the 1920 Battle of Warsaw has been called (in the title of a book about it) The 18th Decisive Battle of History?
...that the Polish engineer Edmund Obiala directed the construction of the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia?
...that Warsaw is Europe's third biggest construction site, after Berlin and Moscow?
...that the statue of Poland's King Sigismund III Vasa, before the Royal Castle in Warsaw, was the first secular figure to be placed atop a column anywhere in Europe?
...that the world's largest sculpture, the Crazy Horse Memorial, was begun in 1948 by a Polish-American sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski?
...that Rogalin, near Poznań, has Europe's largest concentration of old oak trees (about 1,000)?
...that the American banking family of Chase, as in Chase Manhattan, is descended from Polish Jews whose original Polish name was "Cieśla," meaning "carpenter"?
...that contrary to a prevailing western belief that consigns Poland to Eastern Europe, Poland is actually situated in the very heart of Europe (the town of Suchowola, in northeastern Podlasie Voivodship, is at the geographic center of the European continent)?
...that the chivalrous custom of kissing a woman's hand is still common in Poland?
...that Poles often call themselves the Nation of Free People?
...that, during World War II, Poland was the fourth largest contributor to the Allied effort in the European theater, after the Soviet Union, United States, and Britain and its Commonwealth?
...that the longest word in the Polish language is "Konstantynopolitańczykowianeczka," which means "a little girl from Constantinople"?
...that, according to legend, a Wavel Dragon once dwelled in a cave beneath Wawel Hill, on the bank of the Wisła River?
...that a 62-year-old Polish retired coal miner, Oswald Górecki, of Zabrze, has built a model of the Eiffel Tower, using 450,000 wooden matches?
...that, according to legend, the Polish Prince Popiel was eaten alive by mice in a tower at Kruszwica?
...that the only remaining ancient virgin forest in Europe, the Białowieża Forest, lies on the Polish-Belarusian border and that the last free-living wisents (Polish: żubry) live there?
...that the Hejnał Mariacki is played atop the towers of St. Mary's Church, in Kraków, each hour of the day, four times in succession, toward four different directions, but never to the end, and that it always ends abruptly?
...that the Polish szlachta (nobility) once believed itself to be descended from the Sarmatians?
...that during the Crusades the Polish Prince Leszek the White explained to the Pope that Polish knights could not participate in the crusades because there was no mead in Palestine?
...that the Polish Air Force's "Kościuszko Squadron" achieved the highest number of kills, among the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain?
...that the most famous tree in Poland is Bartek, an oak about 1200 years old?
...that the historic salt mine at Wieliczka, near Kraków in southern Poland, is the only place in the world where salt has been mined continuously since the Middle Ages?
...that Mirosław Hermaszewski was the first (and so far the only) Polish citizen to make a space flight, in 1978?
...that the Polish Rally (Rajd Polski) is the second-oldest auto rally in the world, after the famous Monte Carlo?
...that the Polish alchemist Michał Sędziwój deduced that air contains oxygen, 170 years before Scheele, Lavoisier and Priestley?
...that the most famous Polish knight was Zawisza Czarny?
...that Maria Skłodowska-Curie, a Polish chemist, pioneer radiologist and two-time Nobel laureate, discovered the elements radium and polonium?
...that the biggest medieval battle was fought on the plains between the villages of Grunwald and Stębark?
...that from 1572 until 1791 Polish kings were elected by Polish-Lithuanian szlachta?
...that the Polish mountain climber Jerzy Kukuczka became only the second man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders?
...that the Warsaw radio mast at Konstantynów was the tallest structure ever built?
...that Grzegorz Lato, a Polish soccer striker, was the leading scorer at the Football World Cup in 1974?
...that the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791 (Polish: Konstytucja Trzeciego Maja) was Europe's first modern codified national constitution, and the world's second after the United States Constitution?
...that Poland's Tadeusz Mazowiecki was the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II?
...that the Order of the White Eagle is Poland's highest decoration and the highest military decoration the Virtuti Militari?
...that the Globus Jagiellonicus, made in 1510, at Kraków's Jagiellonian University, is the first known globe to mention the name of America?
...that the Polish-American NASA astronaut James A. Pawelczyk took a Polish flag into space, which he later presented to Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski?
...that the Polish Prince Stanisław Radziwiłł was married to Lee Radziwill, the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy?
...that Pope John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła) reigned as pope of the Catholic Church for almost 27 years, the third-longest papal reign, and that he was the first non-Italian to be pope since the 16th century?
...that Poland's Armia Krajowa (Home Army), with 250,000 to 350,000 members, was the largest underground resistance movement in Europe during World War II?
...that a Pole, Marek Kamiński, was the first person to reach both poles: the North Pole on May 23, 1995, and the South Pole on December 27, 1995?
...that the Hôtel Lambert, in Paris, was the main Polish political and cultural center outside Poland after the collapse of the November 1830 Uprising?
...that the Polish mountain climber Wanda Rutkiewicz became the third woman and the first European woman to climb Mount Everest, and that she did it the same day that another Pole, Karol Wojtyła, became Pope John Paul II (October 16, 1978)?
…that the music of Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin is the most often used music in films all over the world?
...that the great Polish novelist Bolesław Prus, who wrote The Doll and Pharaoh, had at age 15 joined Poland's 1863 Uprising as a soldier and, twelve days after his 16th birthday, was captured in battle and imprisoned by Tsarist Russian authorities?
... that the history of philosophy in Poland began in the 13th century with the Scholastic, Witelo?
... that perhaps the greatest Polish contribution to world philosophy was made by the great Renaissance polymath, Nicolaus Copernicus?
... that many-valued logic and Polish Notation were invented by the 20th-century Polish philosopher and mathematician, Jan Łukasiewicz?
