Artificial Intelligence, Poland in the Borderlands, and Travel to the Edge of Asia
Benedict the Pole Awards Ceremony in Tum
The 10th anniversary awards ceremony took place on September 27, 2024, at the Tum cathedral. The prestigious award, given for outstanding exploration and research achievements, was presented to Prof. Tomasz Rutkowski, Dr. Tadeusz Gawin, and Mr. and Mrs. Elżbieta and Krzysztof Renik.
The Benedict the Pole Awards honor outstanding achievements in exploration and research on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. The award is given to scientists and explorers not only from Poland, but from all over the world. The committee presents two awards: one for a Polish researcher and one for a foreign researcher. A special award can also be presented.
The Benedict The Pole Award Winners in 2024:
The main award in the Polish researcher/explorer category went to Professor Tomasz Rutkowski. A resident of Japan since 1998, Prof. Rutkowski conducts research at the RIKEN AIP Institute at the University of Tokyo and at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He is involved in artificial intelligence, neurotechnology, and multisensory applications. His research focuses on the potential use of artificial intelligence in preventing dementia and the practical applications of machine learning. He is the co-author of the patent "Method, System, and Program for Signal Extraction."
Dr. Tadeusz Gawin won the top prize in the foreign researcher category. This prominent publicist was formerly an officer of the USSR border troops in the Far East. He abandoned his promising military career to pursue scientific work documenting and describing the history of Poles in the former Kresy region. From 1988 to 1990, he served as chairman of the Adam Mickiewicz Cultural and Educational Association. He founded and led the Union of Poles in Belarus. He still holds the position of honorary president. Dr. Gawin is also the author of the first monograph on the history of Poles in Belarus.
Elżbieta Dziuk-Renik and Krzysztof Renik received a special honorable mention in the Polish researcher/explorer category from the Committee. Traveler and photographer Elżbieta Dziuk-Renik has had her excellent photographs published in many magazines and books and displayed in places such as the Museum of Literature in Warsaw, the Museum of the Earth of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Central Maritime Museum. She is the co-author of "Encyclopedia. The World in Cross Section (1988)". Krzysztof Renik, a journalist, writer, columnist, and theater scholar, has spent years bringing readers and listeners closer to the problems of the modern world. He pays special attention to Asia, a region he knows well from his time in India and other South and Southeast Asian countries. Renik was a war correspondent in Iraq in 2004 and the first Polish Radio correspondent in New Delhi in 2007.
Awards Ceremony in a Medieval Venue
The Benedict the Pole Award was established on May 28, 2014, at the Castle in Łęczyca. The Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, the Warsaw Scientific Society, the District Office in Łęczyca, and the Municipal Office in Łęczyca collaborated to create it.
The first ceremony at which the awards were presented took place in 2015 at the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Tum. Why exactly in this historic Romanesque temple? What is its connection with Benedict the Pole? We will address that shortly.
The award ceremony for exploration traveled across Poland. It even traveled more than once! Subsequent editions were held at the Łańcut Castle, the Collegium Maius Hall of Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the Kazimierzowski Palace in Warsaw, and the Royal Castle in Warsaw, among others. After many years, the 10th edition of the Benedict Pole Awards returned to Tum. Attendees included members of the Prize Committee, the President of the Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, the Chairwoman of the Łódź Voivodship Assembly, Ms. Małgorzata Grabarczyk; the Head of the Łęczyca District, Mr. Janusz Mielczarek; the Deputy Mayor of Łęczyca, Mr. Wojciech Czaplij; the Advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Łukasz Rzepecki; and the Bishop of Łowicz, Rev. Wojciech Osial. City and district councilors, managers, and directors of local institutions were among the guests, as well as winners of the Benedict the Pole Award from previous years. The ceremony featured a performance by Anna Krysztofiak, an artist who plays traditional music on Chinese and Japanese instruments.
Prof. Mariusz Ziółkowski, Chairman of the Chapter of Benedict The Pole Award and the Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, gave the welcome speech, which included an outline of the history of the Award.
Following the welcome, the laureates' laudations were delivered and diplomas were presented. The laureates then spoke, introducing the attendees to the details of their work. After the awards were presented at the Archdiocese of Tum, the attendees went to a reception at the Royal Castle in Łęczyca.
While congratulating the awardees, the Deputy Mayor of Łęczyca, Mr. Wojciech Czaplij, summarized: The tenth edition of the Award demonstrates its significance in the scientific community and for all Poles. It provides an opportunity to learn about scientific research, its subject matter, and the individuals behind remarkable discoveries and intricate endeavors requiring immense dedication.
Chronicler and explorer
The Benedict The Pole Prize has been awarded for ten years to the most outstanding Polish and foreign researchers and explorers. The 13th-century Franciscan made one of the most daring journeys of his time when he traveled to the capital of the Mongol Empire. He took part in an expedition led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine that delivered a message from Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan of the Mongols. The expedition's primary goal was to persuade the reigning Gujuk Khan to accept Christianity, but this goal was ultimately not achieved. Nevertheless, the expedition played a significant role in the discovery of Asia. Benedict the Pole recorded his observations during the voyage, which spread in Europe both orally and in writing through his treatise De Itinere Fratrum Minorum ad Tartaros and the document Historia Tartarorum.
Even today, the journey would be a huge undertaking, but it was virtually unimaginable in the 13th century. The travelers set off from Lyon and stopped in Wrocław. From there, they traveled to Łęczyca and Tum. There, the Mazovian princes taught them how to prepare for the journey east. What gifts should they take, and whom should they give them to along the way? Where could they get horses? What route should they take? What and whom should they avoid? Thanks to the precise plans made during the stopover, the expedition was spectacularly successful.
It's no wonder, then, that the award named after him is presented in Tum!
It's worth mentioning that papal dispatches were sent to Mongolia as many as four times, but only one — the one with Benedict the Pole — reached its destination. This event occurred a quarter of a century before Marco Polo's famous journey east. Benedict the Pole was a conversational interpreter, a networking traveler, and a chronicler who meticulously noted and published his observations. No one other than this outstanding explorer and pioneer could have become the patron of the exploration prize!
Text by Róża Paszkowska
The 2024 Benedict the Pole Awards were honored with the patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda. The awards were financed by the University of Warsaw, the Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, and Uniejów Castle.
HONORARY PATRONAGE
the ceremony was assumed by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda
The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education under the Excellent Science II programme – Support for scientific conferences, agreement no. KONF/SN/0561/2024/
See the photo report from the ceremony >>