MACHALSKI, Franciszek. Braddock near Pittsburgh 5.7.1904 — Cracow 24.1.1979. Polish Iranian Scholar. Professor in Cracow. Born in a poor emigrant family in the U.S.A., they returned to Poland, when he was six. Grew up in Żołynia, near Łańcut in south-eastern Poland. From 1924 studied Polish and German, soon Sanskrti (Stasiak), Arabic and Persian at Lwów (now L’viv). Ph.D. 1930 Lwów (diss. on Muḥammad). After a brief period as Assistant of Islamic history at Lwów taught Polish at the gymnasium of Tarnopol until the war and during the war taught Polish in Iran and Libanon. Back in Poland worked as teacher in Bytom and from 1951 at Seminar of Oriental Philology, Cracow University. He started there the teaching of Iranian philology, from 1969 as eo. Professor. Retired in 1974, but continued research and teaching until his death. In the first place he was a specialist of Persian literature, but also interested in religion and onomastics. He was a productive translator, who also worked on Sanskrit texts.
Publications: Wpływy polskie w przemyśla perskiem. 1948; Historyczna powieść perska. 1-2. Cracow 1948; Historyczna powieść perska. 155 p. Cracow 1952; Od Cyrusa do Mosaddeka. 327 p. Warsaw 1960 (History); Wędrówki irańskie. 396 p. Cracow 1960 (travel book); La littérature de l’Iran contemporain. 1-2. Cracow 1965-67, 3. Cr. 1980.
– Transl.: Firdausi: Opowieść o miłości Zala i Rudabe. 46+101 p. Wrocław (from the Šāhnāme).
– Articles.
Sources: A. Krasnowolska, Encyclop. Iranica 2006 (online); A. Pisowicz, Folia Orient. 20, 1979, 317-320, with photo; *Polish Wikipedia briefly; photo in L. Sudyka, Orientalia Commemorativa. Kraków 2011.
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