MicroscopyPioneers
He was the assignee of several patents, and many of his inventions were applied by the Polish optics industry. Also an expert in microinterferometry, Pluta developed several new microinterferometric techniques, including a unique method of variable wavelength interferometry (VAWI). A great leader, Pluta was highly involved
with a number of scientific societies and editorial advisory boards, and he organized a number of scientific conferences. He was a fellow of both the Royal Microscopical Society and the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), as well as an honorary member of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois. He also founded the Polish chapter of the SPIE and was its president for many years. Among the many awards bestowed on Pluta were the Silver Cross of Merit, the Cross of Poland’s Independence, and the Gold Honor Badge of the Italian Society of Mineralogy and Petrology (SIMP).
When Pluta completed his secondary education in 1949,
he decided to continue his studies at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Tere he concentrated on physics and chemistry, subsequently attending Warsaw University, from which he obtained a master’s degree in physics in 1954. While still a graduate student, Pluta began working at the Optics Department in the Institute of Precise Mechanics, which was later reorganized into the Central Optics Laboratory and then into the Institute of Applied Optics. He would remain involved with the department and Warsaw University in varying capacities throughout his entire professional career. In 1964, Pluta was awarded a grant from the French
government, which enabled him to receive additional scientific training at the Optical Institute in Paris under the direction of distinguished physicist and optics theoretician Georges Nomarski. Tere Pluta’s work was primarily focused on holography, which he hoped to be able to apply to microscopy, one of his primary areas of interest. Pluta was also intrigued by Nomarski’s differential interference contrast (DIC) method of microscopy, a technique that he later substantially improved. A tireless worker and avid researcher, Pluta received
the title of assistant professor and professor before he had even been awarded the appropriate degrees. Te discrepancy occurred because Pluta had been too busy with his scientific endeavors to submit the necessary paperwork. An admirably independent thinker, when Pluta was attempting to complete his formal education, he spent a significant amount of time developing his own theories rather than focusing on the work of others. For example, when he wrote his assistant professor dissertation he did not reference any other authors but simply put forth his own idea and its development. Pluta was extremely apt at finding solutions for problems
in microscopy and made a wide variety of contributions to the scientific world. He penned three eminent optics texts, including Phase-Contrast and Interference Microscopy (1965), Optical Microscopy (1980), and the authoritative three-volume Advanced Light Microscopy (1988–1993), in addition to more than a hundred original scientific research reports and papers.
56
www.microscopy-today.com • 2011 May
He was also awarded a prestigious prize from the Foundation of Polish Science in 1995 in the field of technical science for his opus Advanced Light Microscopy, which is still available from booksellers. Pluta’s landmark treatise on basic and advanced techniques is considered by many microscopists to be the most comprehensive and definitive treatment of optical microscopy yet published.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76