Polish professors at the University of Kharkov until 1917
The University of Kharkov, the co-founders of which included Seweryn Potocki, brother of Jan — explorer and author of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa — after the closure of the Universities of Vilnius and Warsaw played an important role in the education of Polish youth coming from Lithuanian-Belorusian lands, Ukraine and the Kingdom of Poland. In addition to students, after 1864 several dozen Polish professors were associated with this university. The most distinguished among them included the botanists Józef Cienkowski and Władysław Karol Rothert; the lawyer Jan Sobestiański; the classical philologist Józef Piechowski; the pathologists and physicians Antoni Wysokowicz, Teodor Opęchowski and Edward Żebrowski; the surgeon Julian Pęski; the pharmacologist Jan Stankiewicz; and the mathematicians Cezary Russjan and Antoni Przeborski. Their original publications and attitude won them recognition of other universities in Russia. In addition to research and teaching, they were also actively involved in the life of the Polish diaspora in Kharkov. Some of them, e.g. Pęski or Przeborski, performed important functions in the university administration. Polish professors employed by the University of Kharkov until 1917 went down in its history as eminent scholars and highly-valued teachers; they were also remembered as active participants in the life of the Polish community in Kharkov.