PROF. JAN GAJ

Professor Jan Gaj (1943-2011) was a passionate physicist, throughout his life showing extraordinary skills even in his early years. Born in Kraków, he studied Physics at the University of Warsaw. In fact, nearly his entire academic carrier was associated with the Department of Experimental Physics of the University of Warsaw. He was an experimentalist through and through (he always stressed that experimental approach is at the very heart of Physics) and an important member of the group that became known as the Warsaw School of Semiconductor Physics. One of his most prominent achievements as a scientist was the seminal study of optical properties of cadmium manganese telluride, published in 1979, work that helped to put the entire subject of diluted magnetic semiconductors prominently on the map. Most recently his interest turned to self-assembled quantum dots with Mn, where again he has contributed many pioneering concepts.

Apart from doing research in the laboratory, Jan Gaj was an eminent educator – his lectures were invariably crystal clear, illustrated with cleverly designed demonstrations. He even created a series of very popular TV programs devoted to Physics. Not surprisingly, young students to whom he devoted a great deal of his time and attention constantly surrounded him. He was widely recognized internationally: he spent extended periods in laboratories abroad, at Stanford, at universities in Grenoble and Paris, and at Linz. He had a very mellow and agreeable personality: it was not only a pleasure to collaborate with Jan Gaj (Janek, as he was known to his friends), but also just to talk with him about anything at all, e.g., about music, which he truly loved.

His final illness was quite sudden: leukemia was diagnosed only in December 2010, which led to his passing in February of this year.