In memory of Przemysław Szumiński (1967-2011)

"Let us hurry to love people, they pass away so quickly". The words of Father Jan Twardowski remind us of the sad truth that those we know, like and even love often pass away much too soon.

October 24, 2012 marked the first anniversary of the death of our Dear Colleague, a wonderful academic teacher and a scientist valued in the world.

Przemysław Szumiński was born on February 8, 1967 in Zgierz. He attended primary school there and graduated from a general secondary school with a mathematical and physical profile. His further education and scientific development were connected with the Lodz University of Technology. He obtained his Master of Science in Engineering specializing in Cars and Tractors in 1991 at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Two years later he began doctoral studies at the Department of Automatic Control and Machine Dynamics; in the same year he became an assistant in this unit. In 1997, he defended his doctoral thesis with distinction on the dynamics of manipulators, prepared under the supervision of prof. Tomasz Kapitaniak. In 1998, he became an assistant professor at the Department of Machine Dynamics.

The main areas of scientific interests of Dr. Przemysław Szumiński are the identification and elimination of mechanical vibrations of robots, the accuracy of manipulator positioning, modeling of rolling kinematic nodes of manipulators, nonlinear dynamics of manipulators and their control. His scientific achievements include authorship or co-authorship of several publications, most of which were published in international journals. Some of them are the result of cooperation with a research center in Ukraine and the result of the implementation of three research projects with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in which he acted as the main contractor and manager. In addition, the results of his work were published in the materials of several domestic and foreign conferences. He reviewed many scientific papers in the field of nonlinear dynamics of robots.

Dr. Przemysław Szumiński distinguished himself as a teacher. He loved teaching. He gave lectures and lecture and laboratory exercises. He often acted as a tutor for dean groups and student groups. He wrote two scripts for students: one on the theory of mechanisms, the other on the theory of manipulators. We watched as he designed and accompanied the physical creation of the Laboratory of Manipulator Theory with great commitment.

Privately, Przemek loved his daughter Julia and… cars above all else. He spent a lot of time “tinkering” and repairing his Beetles and Cucumbers. Volkswagens were his true passion. We often saw him with dirty hands - you could see that he tried to wash them again, but grease did not let go easily and got under his fingernails. We enjoyed our joint trips for a beer, during which he told us how he assembled cars of this make, talked about their history and, of course, about his Daughter. We knew when she started turning around, lying on her tummy, sitting up, even about each tooth that erupted. Many of the employees of our Unit have children of a similar age to Juleńka - currently 4 years old, so it was even harder to part.

Przemek will always remain in our hearts as a reliable and conscientious employee, a good colleague, and above all a decent man and a wonderful father. He left us too early, unexpectedly. He left many warm memories. How difficult it is to accept that he is no longer with us today.