An 83-year-old has been awarded a PhD by one of Poland’s leading universities, after successfully defending his doctoral thesis.
Ignacy Skrzypek was born in 1940, during Poland’s occupation by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War Two. He later became an archaeologist, working for as head of the archaeology department of the municipal museum in Koszalin, a city in northwest Poland.
In his retirement, he returned to academic pursuits, becoming a doctoral student in the department of history at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (UAM), which is currently ranked as Poland’s fourth best university.
The university announced yesterday that Skrzypek was last week awarded his PhD after defending his thesis, titled “The history of museology in Western Pomerania up to 1945”.
“He is a highly regarded and respected figure among researchers of the history of Western Pomerania and local museum professionals,” wrote UAM. The thesis defence went smoothly, reports local news service Ten Poznań.
The news triggered a wave of positive comments and congratulations. Among those expressing their appreciation was UAM’s rector, Bogumiła Kaniewska.
“Big congratulations,” she wrote on Facebook. “I am very happy that seniors are also finding their place at our university and are developing academically.”
“The venerable age of the newly minted doctor proves that retirement can be extremely productive and that there is always time to implement plans and make your dreams come true,” wrote Skrzypek’s former employer, the museum in Koszalin.
Last month, another retiree, 73-year-old Tadeusz Sawicki, earned a doctorate at Wrocław University of Technology.
Oto Tadeusz Sawicki, który w wieku 73 lat otrzymał właśnie stopień doktora na Wydziale Mechanicznym.
A Ty, jaką masz wymówkę?
Ps
Panie Doktorze serdecznie gratulujemy♥️pic.twitter.com/b2kiQXsp6x— Politechnika Wrocławska (@PWr_Wroclaw) December 14, 2022
Poland’s new PhD graduates are, however, relative youngsters in comparison to 104-year-old Colombian engineer Lucio Chiquito, who in 2021 completed his doctorate at the University of Manchester.
In 2015, Ingeborg Rapoport was awarded a doctorate at the age of 102 by Hamburg University, after it sought to correct the injustice of her being denied a medical degree in Nazi Germany due to her Jewish ancestry.
Main photo credit: Adam Mickiewicz University
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
