EN
Napoleon Cybulski was one of the most prominent Polish physiologists. He defended his PhD thesis in 1885 and became the Chair of the Department of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Jagiellonian University, till 1919. He is known as a founder of the physiology school in Cracow. One of his greatest achievements was the construction of a device for precise measurements of blood movement in the vessels – the photohemotachometer. It provided a better insight into the physiology and pathophysiology of the circulatory system. In the fi eld of endocrinology Cybulski, together with Szymonowicz, found out that adrenal extracts contain biologically active substances that elevate blood pressure. He was also a constructor of an extremely sophisticated microcalorimeter to measure the quantity of heat produced during isolated muscle contraction. He applied, for the fi rst time, condensator discharges to stimulate nerves and analyzed changes in the excitability of the muscles. Cybulski proved that the cause of the electrical excitability of tissue depends on the electrical energy and the time of its duration. Together with Adolf Beck, he performed the experiments on the sensory centers in the central nervous system by means of the observations of the electrical evoked potentials. They discovered the continuous electrical oscillations in the brain and recorded the negative electrical potentials in brain areas. This invention had the great contribution to the development of physiology.