Józef Zwierzycki was an outstanding geologist, researcher of the tropics, pioneer of Polish geological research in Asia and co-founder of the post-war scientific community of Wrocław.

He was born on 12 March 1888 in Krobi . After passing his matriculation exams in Gniezno, he studied mining at the Mining Academy and geology at the University of Berlin . In 1913 he received a doctorate in philosophy and a year later the title of mining engineer. In the same year he was accepted into the geological service in the Netherlands Indies. On 1 May 1914 he set off for Java, where he began a 24-year service with the Dutch Geological Survey .

In Indonesia, he conducted pioneering field research in the jungles and volcanic mountains of the Malay Archipelago . In 1920 he led a geological expedition to New Guinea, where he discovered rich deposits of oil and other mineral resources. He also produced the first geological maps of previously unknown areas. Among other things, he explored Lake Toba, the tin ores at Bance and Billiton, and coal seams in the swamp forests. He was the author of dozens of geological papers and maps that laid the foundation for the development of the geology of Southeast Asia. In 1933 he became a professor at the Bandung University of Technology , and soon became director of the Dutch Geological Survey . He was the first Pole to hold this position. For his merits, he received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Oranje-Nassau from the Queen of the Netherlands. An anecdote recalled by Dr Stanislaw Koscielniak can attest to how much he was appreciated in what is now Indonesia :

"He once mentioned that when working for the Dutch on the island of Java, he had a car at his exclusive disposal, and there were only two cars. The other one belonged to the governor of the island".

In 1938 he returned to Poland, taking charge of the Department of Oil and Salt at the State Geological Institute. During the Second World War he was arrested and imprisoned in Auschwitz (no. 16752), where his knowledge of Norwegian saved him. After the intervention of German geologists, he was transferred to Berlin, where he worked scientifically at the German Geological Survey (Reichsamt für Bodenforschung) as a political prisoner until 1944. He managed to escape in mid-July 1944 and then went into hiding in Krakow.

After the war he co-founded the University and University of Technology in Wrocław, organising the Department of Geology . He worked on securing German collections. He taught stratigraphic geology, regional geology and volcanology, educating a generation of Polish geologists. As a researcher of Lower Silesia, he predicted the occurrence of salt and copper ores north of the Sudetic block; his concepts formed the basis for the discovery of the Lubin and Polkowice deposits. He was posthumously awarded the First Degree State Prize for his contribution to this discovery.

Professor Józef Zwierzycki was a man of extensive knowledge, a patriot and a teacher who combined a European workshop with the experience of tropical expeditions. He could talk about his expeditions in a very colourful way. He died on 1 May 1961 in Wrocław. A street, a school in Krobia and a boulevard in Wrocław are named after him, and a comic book commemorating his life and research has been published in Indonesia.