Associate Professor Anna Błach PhD, DSc passed away
We regret to inform that on May 16, 2021, at the age of 85, Associate Professor Anna Błach PhD, DSc, passed away, a person who initiated to set up the Center for Geometry and Engineering Graphics at the Silesian University of Technology.
Prof. Anna Błach was born on September 13, 1935 in Lviv. She graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology. She started working at the Department of Descriptive Geometry in 1965, after several years as a Civil Engineer. She obtained a PhD in 1973 for the thesis “Zagadnienie kątów w konstrukcji okręgów” (transl. The problem of angles in the construction of circles), and she obtained her habilitation (postdoctoral degree) thesis “Wybrane zagadnienia geometrii budowlanych struktur obrotowych” (transl. Selected issues of geometry of rotating construction structures) in 2001.
In the years 1981-1982 she was the deputy director of the Institute of Descriptive Geometry and a member of the Scientific Council of the Institute. After transforming the Department of Descriptive Geometry into the Center for Geometry and Engineering Graphics in 1993, she took over the management of the unit. At that time, the Center was excluded from the structures of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, becoming an independent inter-faculty unit. As a person with great organizational talent, Prof. Anna Błach actively took care of working conditions of the Center.
In 2000, she was a member of the Council of Higher Education where she chaired the Comitee for Didactics and Student Affairs. As part of the work carried on by the Council, she coordinated compilation of a teaching standards for many fields of study.
She was the author of didactic books: “Geometria. Przegląd wybranych zagadnień dla uczniów i studentów” (transl. Geometry. Review of selected issues for pupils and students), “Inżynierska Geometria Wykreślna. Podstawy I zastosowania – zbiór zadań." (transl. Engineering Descriptive Geometry. Basis and applications – a set of tasks), "Wybrane definicje I konstrukcje geometryczne. Planimetria i stereometria.” (transl. Selected definitions and geometrical constructions. Planimetry i stereometria.) and the initiator and co-author of numerous didactic materials developed at the Center for Geometry and Engineering Graphics. She was also the author of numerous publications and conference speeches. Until her retirement in 2010, she actively participated in national and international conferences.
Associate Professor Anna Błach, PhD, DSc chaired, from the first conference, the Organizing Committee of the International Conference "Geometry Graphics Computer" (former Seminar "Geometry and Computer" organized for the first time in 1988), and in the years 2002-2017 she directed the Scientific Committee of the Conference, which was organized by the Center for Geometry and Engineering Graphics.
In the years 2002 - 2012 she was the President of the Polish Society of Geometry and Engineering Graphics. She was also very actively involved in organizing a tourism, especially for children and adolescents, basically a ski schools. After retirement, she did not stop to support an organizational, didactic and scientific activities, being a model of diligence, reliability in research work and teaching among her colleagues.
Prof. Anna Błach was a friend of youth, an excellent organizer, a tutor for many generations of young scientists, a great and reliable manager, whose help and kindness could always be counted on.
The Rector, the Senate and the Academic Community of the Silesian University of Technology express the condolences and a regret to the family, relatives and friends.
The Holy Mass will be celebrated on May 21, 2021 at 11:00 o’clock in the Church of Świętego Michała, in Gliwice. The last farewell will take place just after the mass at the Cmentarz Lipowy, in Gliwice.
