Lebedzinsky, Peter

Born in 1860 in the town of Sokulka, then located in the Grodno province of the Russian Empire. He studied chemistry in St. Petersburg (later graduated from the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute ) and moved to Warsaw. He was interested in photography since his student days, he took photographs and participated in exhibitions ^[2] . In 1896 he met Dr. Edmund Bernacki , who first introduced photographs taken using x-ray radiation in Poland ^[3] and delivered lectures on this subject.

Lebedzinsky was engaged in entrepreneurship and initially owned a photographic store in house 65 on the Cracow Suburb in Warsaw. Later, he opened another store in house 99 on Marshalkovskaya Street, constantly expanding the range. So, thanks to Lebedzinsky’s activity, the first manufacturers of cinematographic apparatus, spare parts and all materials for them appeared in Poland.

In 1888, Lebedzinsky began production of photographic paper in Poland, which was conducted at a factory in the Prague area. Photosensitive materials and photographic devices were produced there ^[2] . The company became famous in Europe primarily due to the high quality of photo paper, which was exported to Berlin , Vienna , Paris and London ^[1] . Since 1896, the company has been manufacturing Chicago photographic devices with a size of 9x12 cm, since 1900 - Diops stereoscopes ^[4] . In 1901 he received a gold medal in the field of industry at the 1st exhibition of art photography in Warsaw.

In 1933, shortly before Lebedzinsky’s death (he died in Warsaw on January 30, 1934), the factory was transformed into a Foton limited liability company. Foton Ltd. existed until 1940, when the leadership of the Governor General of the Third Reich abolished it, but was restored after the war and the photochemical plant FOTON resumed in Warsaw ^[5] .

Peter Lebedzinsky was a member of the Polish Society of Photography Lovers, occupying from 1903 to 1906 and from 1913 to 1914 a member of the Revision Commission. He was engaged in publishing in the field of photographic technology and photochemistry. Co-editor of the journal Photographer Varshavsky with Jan Hoyrich, Stanislav Salay and Jan Yaroshinsky ^[6] .

As a graduate of a technical university, Lebedzinsky was interested in science and technology. So he was engaged in improving the gramophone, designing sound membranes, playing gramophone records, studying the schemes of submarines and aircraft ^[7] . Nevertheless, it was photography and cinema that brought him fame: he became a pioneer of Polish cinema. Since 1893, he was interested in live photography, which led to the emergence of cinema as such ^[8] . The technique then involved shooting a series of images and projecting their imprint with a negative, which led to the formation of an image showing a smooth movement ^[3] .

In 1895, in collaboration with Jan and Jozef Poplavsky, Lebedzinsky built a device called “ Lebedzinsky cinema " ^[3] , which was a combination of a camera recording 14 frames per second (5 per film) and an apparatus for displaying a moving image. Recording and playback were carried out using a series of glass plates, rather than celluloid film. In 1895-1896, the device was used to shoot short, comedy, and fabulous “films” with the participation of actors from Warsaw theaters, including Natalia Konitskaya and Vaclav Shymborsky ^[9] .

In 1897, at the initiative of Alexander Vasyutinsky, an engineer at the Warsaw-Vienna Railway, Lebedzinsky assembled an apparatus that was used to register the deformation of the rails that occurs during the passage of a train. The camera was mounted on rails and automatically shot when the train passed ^[10] . In 1919, with an engineer Stanislav Slivinsky, he also assembled a “cycloscope” - a projection movie camera for use in schools ^[9] .

Constructions

• 1895: Lebedzinsky's cinema - camera and projector
• 1896: Chicago 9x12 movie camera begins production
• 1897: device for the photochemical registration of rail deformation
• 1900: the first Polish stereoscopic apparatus Diops
• 1900: Varsovie camera
• 1904: pupil motion capture device
• 1906: “sound head” for sound recording
• 1919: Cycloscope burst camera - school projector
• 1926: Optical shutter for projection movie cameras

Peter Lebedzinsky, along with Julian Ohorovich, was interested in parapsychology, exploring the phenomenon of psychokinesis and ectoplasm . Since 1920 - supervisor, later - honorary member of the Polish Society for Psychical Research in Warsaw. He participated in the International Congresses of Psychological Research (1921, Copenhagen; 1923, Warsaw; 1927, Paris). In 1921 he received the first prize for his work. Honorary Member of the International Metapsych Institute of Paris.

In 1923, Lebedzinsky made a lecture on “Ideoplasty as the main hypothesis in parapsychological research” ( Fr. L'ideoplastie comme hypothese directrice des etude metapsychiques ), which outlined the classification of paranormal phenomena: 1) personality ideoplasty (manifestations of different personalities as a product of the mental environment, including the dead); 2) ideoplasty of matter (human ghosts or even phantom objects); 3) ideoplasty of energy (primary abnormal phenomena at the energy level - rotating tables, strokes, etc.). Based on the theoretical parapsychological considerations of Julian Ohorovich, Lebedzinsky noted that the number of parapsychological phenomena is not limited and depends only on the imagination and initiative of the media and experimenters ^[11] .

• Shchepanik, Jan

• Praca zbiorowa. Historia filmu polskiego. - Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Artystyczne i Filmowe, 1966. - T. I: 1895–1929.
• Aleksander Żakowicz. Piotr Lebiedziński (1860–1934) // Prace naukowe Akademii im. Jana Długosza w Częstochowie. Edukacja Plastyczna. Fotografia. - 2012. - Issue. z.VII .
• Wacław Żdżarski. Historia fotografii warszawskiej. - Warszawa: Państwowe Wyd. Naukowe, 1974. - S. 79–86.
• Ignacy Płażewski. Dzieje polskiej fotografii: 1839–1939. - Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 2003 .-- ISBN 9788305133166 .
• Jacek Fuksiewicz. Film w Polsce. - Warszawa: Interpress, 1972.
• Henryk Latoś. 1000 słów o fotografii. - Warszawa: MON, 1976.
• Marcin Stachelski. Międzynarodowy zjazd badaczy zjawisk paranormalnych. - Warszawa: Czwarty Wymiar nr 11, 2014 .-- S. 30-36.