The Polish Academy of Sciences (Polish: Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN), headquartered in Warsaw, is Poland's top academy of sciences. It is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars as well as a network of research institutes. It was established in 1951, during the early period of the Polish People's Republic following World War II.
The Polish Academy of Sciences PAN, is a Polish state sponsored institution of higher learning, headquartered in Warsaw, that was established by the merger of earlier learned societies, including the Polish Academy of Learning (Polska Akademia Umiejętności, abbreviated PAU), with its seat in Kraków, and the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning, which had been founded in the late 18th century.
The Polish Academy of Sciences functions as a learned society acting through an elected corporation of leading scholars and research institutions. The Academy has also, operating through its committees, become a major scientific advisory body.
Another aspect of the Academy is its coordination and overseeing of numerous (several dozens) research institutes. PAN institutes employ over 2,000 people, and are funded by about a third of the Polish government's budget for science.
In 1989, the Polish Academy of Learning in Kraków, resumed its independent existence, separate from the Polish Academy of Sciences, in Warsaw.
The Polish Academy of Sciences has numerous institutes including:
Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of SciencesInstitute of Economics of the Polish Academy of SciencesMammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of SciencesNencki Institute of Experimental BiologyPolish Institute of Physical ChemistryBohdan Dobrzański Institute of AgrophysicsInstitute of Fundamental Technological ResearchInstitute of Metallurgy and Materials ScienceInstitute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences - established, 1954, became an independent institute in 1974; publishes the journal Pharmacological Reports.Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of SciencesJózef Barnaś, physicistAndrzej Białas, physicistTomasz Dietl, physicistMaria Janion, scholar, critic and theoretician of literatureZbigniew Jedliński, chemistTadeusz A. Jezierski, ethologistLeszek Kaczmarek, neurobiologistZofia Kielan-Jaworowska, paleontologistFranciszek Kokot, nephrologistStanisław Konturek, physicianLeszek Kołakowski, philosopherRoman Kozłowski, paleontologistMieczysław Mąkosza, chemistKarol Myśliwiec, archeologistEwa Łętowska, lawyer and the first Polish OmbudsmanRafal Ohme, social psychologistCzesław Olech, mathematicianBohdan Paczyński, astrophysicistAndrzej Schinzel, mathematicianJan Strelau, psychologistPiotr Sztompka, sociologistAndrzej Trautman, physicistAndrzej Udalski, astrophysicist and astronomerJerzy Vetulani, pharmacologist and neurobiologistJan Woleński, philosopherAleksander Wolszczan, astronomerStanisław Zagaja, pomologist, professor and director of Research Institute of Pomology and FloricultureMaciej Żylicz, biologist and President of the Board of Foundation for Polish ScienceWanda Leopold, author, translator, and literature criticAage Bohr, physicistJoseph H. Eberly, physicistErol Gelenbe, computer scientist and engineerKrzysztof Matyjaszewski, Polish chemist working at Carnegie Mellon UniversityKarl Alexander Müller, physicistRoger Penrose, mathematicianCarlo Rubbia, physicistBoleslaw Szymanski, computer scientistChen Ning Yang, physicistGeorge Zarnecki, art historianActa ArithmeticaActa OrnithologicaActa Palaeontologica PolonicaActa Physica PolonicaAnnales ZoologiciArchaeologia PolonaFundamenta Mathematicae
