10 most famous Polish People you should know about!

Visiting Poland for the first time may make you wonder about the famous Polish people you might know. Though some names might be surprising, the interesting matter is that Poland has impacted these famous individuals’ success in one way or the other. Few people from Poland are notable due to their Polish roots and family ancestry. In certain cases, they may have moved out of Poland during their childhood or may not have opted to keep up with their Polish guardians. But whether you admire the old-world charm of Poland during your Poland tours or swear by the famous Zubrowka Vodka, you would love to read more about these great Polish people!

Find out if you realized they were Polish. Other than all the amazing attractions and history Poland has to offer, many people have inspired greatness in the country. Be it Chopin, Copernicus, Marie Curie, or Pope John Paul II, Poland prides itself on these renowned nationals who have inspired the world way beyond their country’s border. Let’s find out more about the lives of the 10 most famous Polish people and their contributions to the world. Get inspired as you learn and discover some lesser-known interesting facts about them.

1. Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik in Polish) is a famous astronomer and mathematician born in 1473 in the Polish city of Toruń. He developed the theory that the earth rotates around the sun and not the other way around. He had designed a heliocentric model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe in all likelihood. There is a large statue of Copernicus in Central Warsaw. There is also a science center and a museum dedicated to him in the capital city of Poland. In his birth city, you would be able to visit a planetarium center and go on a Copernicus pilgrimage where you can visit his childhood home that is now a museum. He had spent his time working in the Polish city of Frombork where he passed away due to apoplexy and paralysis.

It has been reported that Copernicus was buried in Frombork Cathedral where a 1580 epitaph stood until it was later defaced and replaced in 1735. For around two centuries, the archeologists had looked in the cathedral for Copernicus’ remains but their efforts went in vain. Efforts to locate his remains took place in 1802, 1909, 1939 but it was not fruitful. In 2004, a team led by the head of the archeology and anthropology institute in Pułtusk decided to begin a new search. It was guided by the historian Jerzy Sikorski. In August 2005, the team happened to scan beneath the cathedral floor and they were able to identify what they believed to be the remains of Copernicus.

Following this on 22nd May 2010, Copernicus was given a second funeral, in a Mass led by Józef Kowalczyk, the former papal nuncio to Poland who was also newly named Primate of Poland. Copernicus’ remains were buried again in the same spot at the same Cathedral, where part of his skull and other bones had been found back in the time. A black granite tombstone now describes him as the founder of the heliocentric theory and also as a church canon. His tombstone has a representation of Copernicus’ model of the Solar System, a golden sun encircled by six of the planets.

2. Frédéric Chopin

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, the great musician, was born in the Duchy of Warsaw in Poland when it was territorially controlled by other countries. As he lived a great part of his life in France, it was presumed that he was born in France. But his mother was from Poland and his father from France. Chopin lived in Poland till he was 20 years old. He then moved to France. Chopin’s father worked as a tutor and bookkeeper when he came to Poland. He settled in Warsaw after getting married. At a young age, Chopin started taking piano lessons with composers and music teachers Wojciech Zywny and Jozef Elsner.

He performed in his first concert at the tender age of 8 and since then, there was no looking back for this young genius! No other musician in the world has contributed to the piano’s repertoire as much as he did. He quickly became famous outside Poland and in wanting to broaden his horizons; he left Poland and headed to Vienna in 1830 at the age of 20. From Vienna, he moved on to Paris, never to return to his homeland.

He was born in a small village located about 50 kilometers west of Warsaw known as Żelazowa Wola. His childhood house remains there and various people visit the place. Chopin’s childhood was spent in Warsaw. So if you’re in Warsaw, you can visit the huge Chopin exhibition hall, the Chopin Sculpture, and various uniquely planned ‘Chopin Seats’ throughout the city that plays the music of Frédéric Chopin. Also, bars and cafés in the city put together Chopin evenings and play his music affectionately.

3. Maria Skłodowska Curie

She was a great Polish scientist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. Maria Skłodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland but is presumed to be French. Though, she took on the French nationality following her marriage. In 1891, Maria Skłodowska Curie left the Polish kingdom for Paris to study at the Sorbonne. Women were not allowed to study in Poland in the 19th century. Hence, she had gone to France to develop her scientific career. She received the first Nobel Prize in 1903 in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for research into the phenomenon of radioactivity discovered by Becquerel.

She was awarded the Nobel Prize for the second time in 1911 for chemistry for discovering Polonium and Radium which is the isolation of pure Radium and the study of the chemical properties of radioactive elements. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in two different sciences such as chemistry and physics. Her legacy lives on in France as she was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. Her childhood home is now a museum that is dedicated to her life. She has inspired the lives of various people and was responsible for discovering the elements of Polonium that is named after Poland, and Radium. She passed away on July 4, 1934, in France. She was a woman who was way ahead of her time!

4. Miroslav Klose

You might know the top goal scorer in World Cup history who scored all those goals for Germany. Yes, we are speaking about the one and only Miroslav Klose! However, you would be surprised to the core to know that he speaks Polish fluently and was not born in Germany! That’s right! The world’s record-breaking goal scorer was born in Opole in the Silesia region in Poland. Both of his parents were Polish and professional athletes.

His mother represented Poland’s Women’s national handball team while his father was a professional footballer who played for Odra Opole and later Auxerre in France. Klose had left Poland when he was eight years old and had moved to Germany to live in Kusel in the Rhineland. He attained his German citizenship later on and opted to represent Germany in international football. However, what’s interesting is that his wife is Polish and their children speak both Polish and German fluently.

5. Daniel Fahrenheit

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was an inventor, physicist, and scientific instrument maker. His inventions brought in the first revolution in the history of thermometry. He invented the mercury-in-glass thermometer for measuring room temperature. He was also the inventor of the Fahrenheit scale that makes use of the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Danzig in Gdansk in 1686 which had then belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth but lived most of his life in the Dutch Republic. He used to speak mainly in German but later moved to the Netherlands. He is fondly remembered in his home city. The unique thermometer he had invented now sits on a lasting presence in the celebrated Długi Targ market square in Gdańsk.

6. Pope John Paul II

He must be the most famous Polish person in the world! Yes, Pope John Paul II was Polish. Karol Józef Wojtyła was born in the Polish town of Wadowice that is located 50 kilometers southwest of Krakow. He was elected Pope by the second papal conclave of 1978 that was called after Pope John Paul I passed on after only 33 days. He was recognized for helping to end the communist rule in his native Poland and eventually in all of Europe during his papacy (26th October 1978–2nd April 2005). He also helped in significantly improving the Catholic Church’s relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Pope had often called himself a Polish highlander and practiced what he preached. His favorite winter sport was hiking and skiing. Poland is a catholic country and hence it is natural that the people of Poland feel proud of having a Polish Pope. Other than being a religious leader, the Pope was also influential in politics. You can find a place called the Bishop’s Palace in Krakow where the Pope stayed while visiting the city. There is a window in the building from where the Pope used to bless his people. Nowadays, in his honor the window has a picture of the Pope.

7. Robert Lewandowski

All football or soccer fans may already know that Lewandowski is Polish. He is considered to be the best and most celebrated Polish football player. Robert Lewandowski is the greatest football idol of Poland and is also the greatest striker ever in the history of the Polish national team. Even though he plays in a German football club, he is Polish. He is the striker in FC Bayern Munich and also the captain of the Polish National Team. He started his professional football career in Polish football clubs Znicz Pruszkow and Lech Poznań. He was born on 21st August 1988 in Warsaw and grew up in Leszno, Warsaw West County.

In 1997, he joined MKS Varsovia Warsaw where he played football as a teen for seven years. By the next year, he moved to Delta Warsaw where he got a chance to play in the first team by scoring four goals. In 2006–07, Lewandowski became the Polish third division’s top goal scorer with 15 goals. In the following season, he became the top scorer in the Polish second division with a whopping 21 goals!

8. Wisława Szymborska

The name itself sounds Polish without any doubt. Wisława Szymborska was born on the 2nd of July in 1923 in Kornik near Poznan but spent most of her life in the beautiful city of Krakow. She was a poet, translator, and essayist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996. Her family had moved to Torun and in 1931, they had moved to Krakow where she lived and worked until she passed away. Some of her most famous poems are Utopia, On Death, Without Exaggeration, and Possibilities. She had continued her education in underground classes during World War II in 1939. From 1943, she started working as a railroad employee and managed to avoid deportation to Germany. Her career as an artist had begun by then with illustrations for an English language textbook by writing occasional poems and stories.

She began studying Polish literature in 1945 but later switched to studying Sociology at the famous Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She was also involved in the local writing scene. Wisława Szymborska met and got influenced by Czesław Miłosz. In 1948, she left her education without a degree due to a lack of finance. She got married in the same year to a poet Adam Włodek but ended up divorcing him in 1954. They had no children. Her first book was published in 1949 but did not pass the censorship as it did not meet the socialist requirements.

Some of her major works are Dlatego żyjemy (“That’s Why We Are All Alive”), Pytania zadawane sobie (“Questioning Yourself”), Wołanie do Yeti (“Calling Out to Yeti”), Dwukropek (“Colon”), Tutaj (“Here”), Wystarczy (“Enough”) and Błysk rewolwru (“The Glimmer of a Revolver”). Wisława Szymborska has won various awards and recognitions like The City of Kraków Prize for Literature, The Polish Ministry of Culture Prize, and Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

She was surrounded by friends and relatives during her death caused by lung cancer in her sleep at her home in Krakow in 2012 when she was 88 years old.

9. Roman Polański

It’s quite doubtful that there would be people who are not aware of this famous Polish-French film director, writer, producer, and actor. Roman Polański has Polish citizenship. He was born in France on the 18th of August 1933 but moved back to Poland, Krakow in 1937 when he was just 4 years old. Within two years of his moving back to Poland, World War II began and Poland was invaded by the German Nazis that caused the Polanskis to be trapped in the Krakow Ghetto. Once his father and mother were taken away in raids, Polanski spent his formative years in various foster homes trying to survive the Holocaust.

He made his first movie in 1962 in Poland known as ‘Knife in the Water’. It was nominated for a United States Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie had also won France’s César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. His first movie also received three Oscars! Later on, in the year 2002 Roman Polański produced and directed ‘The Pianist’. This is a drama based on a Polish-Jewish musician who had successfully escaped the German Nazi persecution. The film had won three Academy awards including the Best Director along with various other international awards.

10. Irena Sendler

Irena Stanisława Sendler who is also known as Sendlerowa was born on 15 February 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. She is well-known as the woman Hero as she had saved thousands of Jewish children during the Holocaust. She’s also known around the world as the female Schindler. She was a Polish humanitarian, social worker, and nurse who had served the Polish Underground Resistance during World War II in German-occupied Warsaw. Sendler had pursued conspiratorial activities during the warlike rescuing of the Jews. She had participated, along with dozens of others, in smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and providing them with false identity documents and shelter with some Polish families who were willing to take care of them or in orphanages and other care facilities.

She was also known as a Polish catholic nurse who had worked in Warsaw. Along with her trusted network of people, Sendler had successfully saved around 2500 Polish Jewish children. As she had smuggled the children, it saved them from being sent to concentration camps. She had implemented various methods to smuggle children out of the Ghetto like transporting them in ambulances as if they were suffering from Typhus and hiding them in supply boxes, trash cans, and coffins. She was indeed a brave Polish woman who had made a huge impact on the lives of thousands of people!