Prof. Zygmunt Marczenko was born on 15 February 1922 in Warsaw. In 1948 he graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Warsaw University of Technology with MSc, Eng degree in chemistry, and in 1961 he was awarded the doctoral degree. His doctoral dissertation was supervised by Prof. Marceli Struszyński, and, after his death, by Prof. Jerzy Minczewski. He received his post-doctoral degree in 1965, the title of associate professor in 1971 and the title of full professor in 1977. From 1967 to 1991 he was the head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry.

Professor Zygmunt Marczenko’s scientific interests include four thematic groups: analytical organic reagents, spectrophotometric methods of elemental determination, chemical methods of separation and thickening, and issues of trace analysis.

For over 40 years Prof. Zygmunt Marczenko in cooperation with younger employees has developed methods for the determination of almost all elements of the periodic table.

In 1998, a new monograph was published, written together with Prof. Maria Balcerzak, PhD, DSc: “Spektrofotometryczne metody w analizie nieorganicznej” [Spectrophotometric methods in inorganic analysis], whose revised English edition was published in 2000. The position of Prof. Zygmunt Marczenko was recognized by the invitation of the quarterly “Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry” (USA) to write two extensive articles on “Spectrophotometric Determination of Trace Elements” (1981) and “Recent Advances in Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometry” (1992). Within a few years, the team led by him published several dozen works on the subject in the form of articles, papers and posters at conferences, becoming the first Polish team with a significant contribution to the world analytical literature.

The methods of trace analysis are also the subject of the monograph “Spectrochemical Trace Analysis for Metals and Metalloids” written together with Prof. Ryszard Łobiński.

Prof. Zygmunt Marczenko also wrote, together with Prof. Jerzy Minczewski, an academic textbook “Chemia Analityczna” [Analytical Chemistry]. For many years it was a basic textbook on analytical chemistry, used by generations of Polish chemists in the course of their education.

Professor Zygmunt Marczenko’s scientific publications (over 170) were published mainly in magazines with international circulation.

For sixteen years Prof. Marczenko took part in the works of the Commission for Micro-Chemical Technologies and Trace Analyses of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). For over 30 years he has been active in the Analytical Chemistry Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. For four terms he was elected member of the Central Commission for Titles and Degrees.

Prof. Zygmunt Marczenko died on 23 April 2002. He was buried in Warsaw in a family tomb in the Bródno Cemetery.