Department of Molecular Physics (DMP) as an independent unit at Faculty of Chemistry was established in January 1999 on the basis of the Unit of Polymer Physics, previously operating within Institute of Polymers. The establishment of the DMP at Faculty of Chemistry was a reference to tradition, as already in 1945, when Lodz University of Technology was being established, Department of Physics at Faculty of Chemistry was createded, headed successively by prof. Władysław Kapuściński, prof. Andrzej Sołtan, doc. dr Eugeniusz Skorko, deputy professor Marta Skorko and prof. Marian Kryszewski. After protests and student strikes in March 1968, the authorities of the People's Republic of Poland, as part of repression, reorganized the universities in Poland, liquidating independent departments and creating institutes. At that time, part of the team of Department of Physics of Faculty of Chemistry became part of Institute of Physics of Lodz University of Technology, while the other part formed the Polymer Physics Group incorporated into the newly created Institute of Polymers.
The head of the Department of Physics in the years 1958-1968, and then the head of the Polymer Physics Group in the years 1968-1995, was an excellent scientist - a student of the famous Aleksander Jabłoński - Marian Kryszewski (1925 – 2005). Prof. Kryszewski was one of the most outstanding specialists in the field of physics and physicochemistry of polymers in Poland and initiated research in the field of organic solids at Faculty of Chemistry of Lodz University of Technology.
The founder and head of Department of Molecular Physics until 2021 was prof. Jacek Ulański, specialist in the field of polymer and molecular crystal physics and organic electronics, who previously, in the years 1995 - 1998, headed the Unit of Polymer Physics. From 2021, the head of the DMP is dr. hab. eng. Beata Łuszczyńska, university professor, a specialist in the field of organic electronics, and the deputy head is dr. hab. eng. Marcin Kozanecki, university professor, specialist in the field of polymer physicochemistry.
The research objectives carried out at DMP include various issues in the field of physics, physicochemistry and chemistry of polymers and molecular crystals as well as development of advanced experimental and theoretical research methods. DMP employees have realised over forty national research and industrial projects, as well as several international projects in frame of European Commission research programs and bilateral agreements, and published several hundred publications, mostly in leading international journals, and developed several dozen patent applications.
During the existence of Department of Polymer Physics and Department of Molecular Physics, 5 people obtained the title of professor, 8 habilitations were completed, and 48 doctors were promoted, including 5 within the framework of 'thèses en co-tutelle' in cooperation with the universities of Lyon and Nantes from France and one in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany.
The scientific development of KFM is largely the result of very intensive cooperation with leading research centers in Poland and abroad. The most important in Poland include the Center for Molecular and Macromolecular Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź, University of Łódź, BioNanoPark in Łódź, Warsaw University of Technology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, University of Warsaw, Wrocław University of Science and Technology and AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. The most important abroad include Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA (world-famous scientist, prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA, has been working at DMP part-time since 2014.), Claude Bernard University and INSA in Lyon (France), Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (Czech Republic), and Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz (Germany). The long-term and fruitful cooperation with the Institute in Mainz is the result of, among others, part-time employment in DMP of outstanding scientists from this Institute; first, until his death in 2005, it was prof. Tadeusz Pakula, and currently prof. Wojciech Pisula and dr. Tomasz Marszałek; it should also be mentioned that the former directors of this Institute, prof. Gerhard Wegner and prof. Klaus Müllen, received the titles of doctor honoris causa of Lodz University of Technology.
DMP has been developing cooperation with the industry for many years, the most important partners include: QWERTY Co. from Łódź, ABB Corporate Technology Center from Kraków and Corning Optical Communications Polska from Stryków.
DMP is a co-founder of the European Center for Nanostructured Polymers (ECNP), s.c.a.r.l., under which eight excellent European research centers have been cooperating since 2004, as well as the consortium of the National Photovoltaic Laboratory, included into the Polish Map of Research Infrastructure. DMP employees participated in the design and arrangement of laboratories in BioNanoPark in Łódź, as well as in the development of the project of the International Center for Innovative Research in Biomaterials (ICRI-BioM) established at Lodz University of Technology as part of the International Research Agendas program. DMP organized or co-organized a number of prestigious conferences and workshops, national and international, addressed to academic and industrial research centers, always taking care to enable students and doctoral students to participate in these events.
author: Jacek Ulanski