We are pleased and proud to announce that Adam Mickiewicz University has awarded the title of doctor honoris causa to Professor Andrzej B. Legocki, former Director of ICHB PAN and Chairman of the Scientific Council of our Institute. As stated in the explanatory memorandum of the UAM Senate’s Resolution of December 19, 2022, this pays tribute to “an outstanding personality of science in Poland, a great scientist, a chemist of internationally recognized authority, an excellent administrator, organizer, and social activist.”

Adam Mickiewicz University has been awarding honoris causa doctorates for more than 100 years, and the laureates have included Maria Curie-Skłodowska, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Józef Piłsudski, Ignacy Mościcki, Heliodor Święcicki, Józef Paczoski, Jerzy Suszko, and Wisława Szymborska.

Prof. Andrzej Legocki was born in 1939 in Rychwał (near Konin). He is a graduate of the Poznań “Marcinek” and the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry of the Adam Mickiewicz University. He completed his master’s thesis in chemistry (1961) under the supervision of Professor Maciej Wiewiórowski and his doctorate in biochemistry (1965) under the supervision of Professor Jerzy Pawlowicz. In 1968, he obtained his habilitation degree, and at the age of 38, he was awarded the title of associate professor in natural sciences. Eight years later, in 1985, he became a full professor in the natural sciences. Professor Legocki’s scientific activity focused primarily on the study of the mechanisms of protein biosynthesis and molecular aspects of the symbiosis of legumes with atmospheric nitrogen-fixing bacteria. He supervised 24 doctoral students and numerous master’s students.

The extraordinary organizational skills of Prof. Andrzej Legocki allowed him to lead first the Department of Protein Biosynthesis in the Department of Biochemistry at the Agricultural Academy, and later the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1988–2003), the Poznan Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1996–2002), and the entire Polish Academy of Sciences, of which he was president in 2003–2006.

In addition, Prof. Legocki has been active in a number of organizations, committees, scientific councils, and journal editorial boards, in many of which he has held leadership positions. Among other things, he is a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a correspondent member of the PAU, a member of Academia Europaea, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He is known not only as a social activist but also as an art connoisseur.

The ceremony of awarding Prof. Legocki the title of honoris causa doctorate, attended by many distinguished guests and his friends, was held in the Lubrański Hall of the Collegium Minus on May 30, 2023, at 12:00 p.m.