POZNAŃSKI, EDWARD

POZNAŃSKI, EDWARD (1901–1974), philosopher. Poznański, the son of Samuel Abraham Poznański (posnanski ), was born in Warsaw, and studied philosophy and mathematics at the local university. While in Poland he was the secretary and moving spirit of the Friends of the Hebrew University in Poland. His principal concern was the building of the jewish national and university library , and many thousands of books arrived at the library through his good offices, bound and catalogued – since among his fields of expertise and hobbies were bibliography and librarianship. He immigrated to Palestine in 1939, and was appointed academic secretary of the Hebrew University in 1946, holding the position until his retirement in 1964. One of his major concerns was the advancement of junior staff through administering funds for fellowships and scholarships. He was instrumental in defining the university's policy for enabling younger scholars to visit great universities abroad and return with enhanced experience and deepened scholarship to join the ranks of the Hebrew University faculties. During his tenure of office as academic secretary, Poznański taught logic, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mathematics at the Department of Philosophy. After his retirement he devoted all his time to this department as teacher, administrator, student counselor, and as principal editor of the Hebrew philosophical quarterly Iyyun. He wrote extensively in the field of his specialization. Poznański established a wide-spread network of contacts with philosophers all over the world. During and after the Yom Kippur War of 1973 he disseminated information and analyses of the situation in many of his letters, some of which also reached the Soviet Union.   Poznański was rooted in Jewish culture, was widely read in the literatures of several languages, and was interested in poetry, music, children's books, and photography. His friendship with the renowned Jewish educator janusz korczak was an important part of his life and a source of inspiration to him as a man and educator. (Nathan Rotenstreich (2nd ed.)