Polish Geological Institute-PIB has gained another professor! Following the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, dated 22 March 2021, Hubert Wierzbowski, a staff member in the Department of Regional Geology, has been nominated a professor of sciences and natural sciences in the discipline of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Professor Hubert Wierzbowski graduated with honors from the Department of Geology, at the University of Warsaw, in 1996, with a master degree in stratigraphic and exploration geology. He received his doctoral degree in geology from the Institute of Geological Sciences, at the Polish Academy of Sciences in 2002 based on his doctoral dissertation, the "Reconstruction of Oxfordian environment based on carbon and oxygen isotopic studies of Polish Jurassic carbonate rocks". In 2011, at the same Institute, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Earth Sciences in the discipline of geology on the basis of the habilitation dissertation entitled the "Reconstruction of middle and late Jurassic Polish and Russian sea basins based on studies of isotopic composition of oxygen and carbon in mollusc shells", which included published articles he accumulated over his career.

Professor Hubert Wierzbowski, PhD

Professor Hubert Wierzbowski worked in the Institute of Geological Sciences, at the Polish Academy of Sciences from 1997 to 2013, and since August of 2013 he has been an employee of the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute.

The Professor’s major scientific achievements are related to geochemical and sedimentological studies of marine sedimentary rocks, as well as palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental studies based on the analyses of stable isotope composition of oxygen, carbon, "clumped isotopes" and strontium of fossils composed of calcium carbonate and phosphate. Particularly important achievements include analyses of temperature and water chemistry of Jurassic sea basins and studies of chemostratigraphy of Jurassic sediments. These include the analyses of palaeoceanographic changes and temperatures of ancient seawater of the central Poland, Scotland and the Russian platform basins in the Middle and Late Jurassic and global and European isotopic patterns of carbonate and strontium stratigraphy of sediments of the same age, which are used for their dating.

Professor Hubert Wierzbowski has also conducted multifaceted research dedicated to the analysis of sedimentation environments, types of sediments, conditions of their deposition and changes in sea depth, as well as the content, type and maturity of organic matter in relation to possible hydrocarbon generation in the Pałuck and Kcyń formations (Upper Jurassic) of Central Poland. He also studied the depositional environments of limestone-marginal formations of the Carpathians and southern Europe, mainly from the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski's research also includes analyses of living environments and life effects occurring in the shells of Upper Cretaceous benthic and planktonic rocks, which are an important source of knowledge on climate change throughout the Earth's history. Other aspects of the Professor's research are methodological works devoted to analyses of the isotopic composition of oxygen, carbon and strontium of biogenic carbonates, as well as analyses of primary and secondary characteristics and profiling of chemical and isotopic composition of fossils made of calcium carbonate and phosphate (rostra of extinct cephalopods from the group of belemnites, shells of bivalves from the group of oysters, spines of invertebrates from the Chaetognatha group, teeth of fish and marine reptiles, as well as human teeth) of various ages, which make it possible to reconstruct the original chemistry of skeletons, temperatures and seasonality of the past climate, mode and length of life of the organisms studied, and migration directions of animals and, in the context of archaeological materials, migration of human groups.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski also participated in geochemical studies of secondary diagenetic carbonate phases of sedimentary rocks, e.g. glendonite concretions of Jurassic subpolar zones. He also took an active part in the documentation and preparation of a proposal for a world model of boundaries of the Upper Jurassic’s Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian strata located on the island of Skye in Scotland, ratified this year by the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Professor Wierzbowski conducted field research and studies of materials from drill cores and collections in central and eastern Poland (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Wieluń Upland, south-western margin of the Holy-Cross Mountains, Łódzko Trough, and the Podlasie and Lublin regions), the Polish and Ukrainian Pieniny Rock Belt, the Polish Alps, the Russian platform (Volga Basin) and materials from Scotland.

He has held research internships at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Parma (Italy) and the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). He was also awarded a scholarship from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic and two scholarships and a grant from the Foundation for Polish Science.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski's extensive scientific collaboration includes research in cooperation with prominent Polish scientists (from the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute, the Institute of Palaeobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Department of Geology at the Warsaw University, the Institute of Geological Sciences at the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Ecology and Bioethics at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University), as well as geologists from Germany, Russia, Slovakia, United Kingdom and Italy.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski was also a member of several teams carrying out large research projects obtained through competitions, including seven projects financed by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN), the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MNiI), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW) and the National Science Center (NCN), and in three cases he was their manager. He also was an active participant or manager of seven other projects carried out under the cooperation agreement between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences, statutory studies of the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute and tasks carried out by the Institute commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment.

The professor is the author of dozens of scientific publications, in most of which he was the lead author, including about 30 cited in the "Web of Science" database. He is also the author of several dozen conference presentations. The international recognition of his achievements is indicated by the high number of citations of his works (number of citations without self-citations = 622) and the Hirsch index (h-index = 16). Prof. H. Wierzbowski is also the author of many scientific paper reviews, including about 40 reviews of articles for journals indexed in the "Web of Science" database, reviews of doctoral theses and reviews of research project proposals for the National Science Centre. He has also served as an expert on the ST10 (Earth Sciences) panel at the National Science Center.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski's achievements also include supervising a completed doctoral dissertation (defense with distinction). The educational-popularization achievements of Prof. H. Wierzbowski include trainings and field trips for young scientists and students, including foreigners, as well as presentations and popular science articles.

Prof. H. Wierzbowski is currently a member of the editorial committee of the Volumina Jurassica journal and a member of the board of the Polish-Slovak Task Group for the Jurassic System affiliated with the Polish and Slovak Geological Societies.

A nomination ceremony will be held at a later date.

Congratulations on the nomination!

Translated by Tomasz Trzpil (PGI-NRI)