On October 1st 2002, after a long illness Professor Maksymilian Pluta passed away. To honour the memory of Professor Pluta we attended his funeral ceremony on 10 October 2002 at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw. We bid farewell to a scientist, an organizer, and an animator of Polish optics. He was famous for pioneering solutions in microscopy and inventions in Polish optical industry. He was also engaged in international activity. He was a President of the Polish Chapter of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) for many years. He was devoted to professional and scientific activity. We bid farewell to a "giant in the optical world" popular in optical society all over the world.

Professor Maksymilian Pluta was born on February 28th 1929 in Karwin, about 25 km south of Cracow, in a poor peasant family with many children. He completed the first form of underground grammar school during World War II. After the war, because of difficult financial situation, he left his home place and moved to his relatives in Chorzów. Having completed secondary school in 1949 he began to study Physics and Chemistry Faculty at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. On June 23rd 1954 he graduated from Warsaw University and received MSc in physics. His Master's thesis was on X-ray radiography. Still being a student he started to work at the Optics Department of the Institute of Precise Mechanics, transformed after many re-organisations into the Central Optics Laboratory and next into the Institute of Applied Optics. During his whole professional carier Professor Pluta was involved in works of the Central Laboratory and the Institute. He was first the Head of the Physical Optics Laboratory and Optic Measurements and next the Head of Physical Optics Department. He received the title of an assistant professor in 1973 and the title of a professor in 1981. In the years 1964-1965 he was granted scholarship by the French government and received his scientific training at the Optical Institute in Paris at Professor Nomarski's Department. The training was focused on holography which was in fashion then. MSc Pluta was interested in the possibility applying holography in microscopy.

Professor Pluta was demon for work and it would be difficult to enumerate all his achievements in optics. Microscopy and microinterferometry were the subjects of his special interest. In this field he has made dozens of scientific-research works described in over hundred of papers and scientific reports as well as presented in form of Polish and foreign patents. Majority of his patents were applied by Polish optical industry. He was the author of three monographs, i.e., "Phase-contrast and interference microscopy" (PWN, Warsaw 1965), "Optical microscopy" (PWN, Warsaw 1980), and the most valuable three-volume "Advanced Light Microscopy" published in the years 1988-1993 by Elsevier in co-operation with PWN. He received a prize for the last-mentioned book from the Foundation of Polish Science (so-called Polish Nobel Prize). Other Professor Pluta achievements in consecutive stages of microscopy development were positive and negative phase contrast, variable phase contrast, stereoscopic phase contrast, significantly improved Professor Nomarski's method (interference-differential contrast) obtained due to Wollaston prism application, and unique method of variable wavelength interferometry (WAVI). His commitment in scientific work was so serious that he received PhD and assistant professor degrees after having already the professor title because he had no time previously to prepare the documents necessary to receive the mentioned titles. It was also symptomatic that his assistant professor dissertation did not include any references of other authors. It was only his idea and development presented in the series of articles published in Optica Applicata.

Professor Pluta was an animator of scientific life not only in Poland. He was a highly estimated initiator of cooperation with Byelorussian and Ukrainian scientific centres. He took part in works of the Association of Polish Mechanical Engineers (NOT) (Optics Section), Polish Physical Association, Polish Committee of Optoelectronics in NOT and since 1990 of the SPIE works. He took the initiative to establish Polish Chapter of SPIE and was its President for many years. He was deeply engaged in an organisation of many scientific conferences. Especially known is the series of conferences which names end "-metry". The last one "Light and Optics in Biomedicine" was held on October 24-26 just after his death. His commitment to organisation of many international scientific conferences and publication of conference proceedings in SPIE volumes opened international scientific contacts to Polish scientists.

For his scientific achievements and organisation of scientific life he was awarded Silver Cross of Merit, the Cross of Poland's Independence, Gold Honour Badge of SIMP, and 2nd Stage Collective National Award for achievement in the field of Technical Progress (1964) and many other prizes. He won a prize of the Foundation of Polish Science in 1995 in the field of technical science for three-volume book Advanced Light Microscopy. He was a member of Editorial Advisory Boards of Journal of microscopy, Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy, and Optica Applicata. He was a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society UK and Honorary Member of the State Microscopical Society of Illinois, USA, the Fellow of SPIE.

The death of Professor Pluta is a great loss to all of us. He will leave a void. Let us honour his memory.

Prof. Romuald Jóźwicki

English translation by:
Prof. Antoni Rogalski