The reason they refer to the "Polish War" is because it's right at the end of the "Phony War" period. Poland was invaded in September of 1939, whereupon France and England, as per their treaty obligations, declared war on Germany. Aside from a few piddling bombing raids, hardly any military activity had taken place in six months. On about the 9th of May the Nazi juggernaut suddenly launched its Blitzkrieg against France, and the war was on in earnest. At this point, March of 1940, there were probably a lot of people who thought the war, such as it was, might actually already be over.

In contrast to some others, I'd believe whatever this guy says about "climate change." He looks nothing if not sincere.

If you look closely at the good Dr.'s face you can see a bunch of laugh lines by his eyes.

I am thinking Dr. Arctowski would be amused by the comments his picture provoked on this site.

"You want MORE?"

It appears that Dr. Henryk Arctowski is as equally recognized for his study of solar physics as for the radiation balance of the earth's atmosphere: NAS Arctowski Medal.

A cropped version of this photo appeared in the Washington Post the following day: May 15, 1940. The caption reads:

His home, laboratory and invaluable records presumably lost in the war, Dr. Henryke Arctowski, one of Poland's leading scientists, is starting a monumental job at the Smithsonian Institution. He will determine direct effects of changes in the sun's radiation on the weather conditions on earth. Dr. Arctowski's earliest meteorological observations began when he was a young geologist on the Antarctic exploring ship, Belgica in 1897-1899.

Another biography provides an earlier portrait:

And he did it without a computer.

This undated portrait on the Arctowski base station's website depicts Henryck during the "Belgica" expedition (conducted in the late 19th century). Shortly afterwards, he married Rockford-born opera singer Arian Jane Addy, perhaps because of his resemblance to Wagnerian Ring character Siegfried.

One of Dr. Arctowski's shipmates was the legendary polar explorer Roald Amundsen. The Belgica expedition was notable for being the first to winter in Antarctica.

A glance at the Doctor's eyes can tell you he did not easily abide nonsense.

Shouldn't that be Antarctowski?

How quaint that we could still at that time refer to the war as something confined to faraway Poland.

I hope some of Dr. Arctowski's relatives survived.

A short biography is here

http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/dab/patron.html

and details of the Polish Antarctic base here

http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/dab/

and there is a Mount Arctowski in Spitzbergen.

No disrespect to Dr. A., mind you, but this one is too good to pass up!

Back in the day Scientists were more interesting to look at: crazy hair, scraggly beards, and disheveled clothes.

I want to see more of his rings!

"Veteran Polish weather expert joins staff of Smithsonian Institution...." At first, I thought this was a misplaced April Fool's joke. Then, I realized that Dr. Arctowski is in fact, the real thing and almost certainly completely out of his mind.