born: January 26, 1922 in Warsaw, Poland
died: December 23, 2007 in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA
parents: father Dominik, mother Janina nee Czaplicka
wife: Nina Weiss (died 1999)
Fates before joining Anders Army :
In the years 1934-1939 he was a student of the elite Sulkowski Junior and High School in Rydzyn (Leszno district, Wielkopolska province), where he conducted his first advanced experiments in physics.
He passed matriculation exams in underground classes in Warsaw in 1940. From that year he joined the underground in the structures of the ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej) and distributed secret press. In the years 1943-1944, he actively participated in the Home Army fights in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains under the command of Maj. Jan Piwnik ps. “Ponury” and Col. Eugeniusz Kaszyński ps. “Trend”. Aleksander Łempicki used the pseudonyms “Hoverla” and “Łukomski”.
In March 1945 arrested by the Secret Security Office in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. He managed to escape. He got to Cracow, where prof. Arkadiusz Piekara (an outstanding physicist from the Jagiellonian University, a lecturer at the pre-war high school in Rydzyna) hid him in his apartment.
After obtaining the documents, he got through Czechoslovakia to the 3rd American Army in Pilsen, and from there he went to Italy.
Military history:
In July 1945 he joined the Polish 2nd Corps. He helped to bring families of soldiers of the 2nd Corps from Poland to Italy along a route known to him. He then enrolled in physics studies in Rome. In the autumn of 1946, together with the 2nd Corps, he was transferred to England for demobilization.
Post-War:
Aleksander Łempicki entered the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. At the same time, he worked in the EMI research laboratories. In 1949 he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1952 a Master’s degree.
He wanted to go to the USA. Sylvania Electric in Bayside, Long Island, offered him a job. The American Embassy in London refused him a visa. With the support of General Anders and other eminent personalities, he finally received it. In 1955 he left for New York with his wife Nina Weiss (died 1999, USA), where he worked in scientific laboratories.
In 1960, he briefly returned to London to defend his doctoral dissertation. He received a Doctor of Science degree. As a physicist, in 1983 he received a research professorship at Boston University and moved to that city. In 1989, he founded his own research laboratory “ALEM Associates”, which was used by many scientists from Poland.
In 2000, he left the university to devote all his time to work, especially to create new ceramic materials using i.e. in computed tomography. Author of many scientific articles and 20 patents.
Already in 1980, he renewed close cooperation with prof. Arkadiusz Piekara in Poland and established relations with the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. He was a member of the American Physical Society and the American Optical Society.
He was a connoisseur of art, valued by many friends. He died after a long illness in December 2007.
