Liubomyr Romankiv, a scientist and engineer of Ukrainian origin, died in the United States at the age of 93. He is the author of more than 65 inventions in the field of electronics, including magnetic heads for computer hard disks. He was also an active member of scouting organizations.
Ukrainian inventor of the magnetic record
There is sad news from the USA: the Ukrainian engineer and scientist Liubomyr Romankiv passed away at the age of 93. He is known not only for his inventions, which made it possible to create a computer hard drive, but also for his public activities concerning Ukrainian organizations abroad.
Liubomyr Romankiv was born in 1931 in Zhovkva in the Lviv region. In 1944 he emigrated with his parents to Canada. He graduated from the University of Alberta as a chemical engineer in 1957 and became a Ph.D. in materials science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962.
Romankiv’s further destiny was connected with IBM Corporation. He is the author of more than 150 scientific papers and 65 patents. They are predominantly concerned with magnetic materials, copper coating processes and reflective displays. The most important of these is considered to be the invention of the magnetic head, which is used to write and read information on computer hard disks.
Liubomyr Romankiv received 13 different scientific awards for his scientific works. The most prominent of these is the Perkin Medal, the highest award of the Society of American Chemists. The scientist was also a holder of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, V degree.
Participation in Ukrainian organizations
Despite the fact that Liubomyr Romankiv left Ukraine as a teenager, he maintained a close connection with his homeland throughout his life. At school he became a member of the scout organization “Plast” and after emigration he did not leave its ranks.
Subsequently, Romankiv became one of the co-organizers of Plast in Edmonton. In particular, he was the initiator of the acquisition of the Plast house in this city. The scientist also participated in the restoration of scout organizations in Ukraine.
Romankiv was active in many other organizations as well. He was a member of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Academy of Engineering Sciences of Ukraine. The scientist said about Ukraine the following: “When I come to Ukraine, I feel that I am in my country, where I was born and where everything is native to me. I left Ukraine when I was 13 years old. When Soviet troops came to Zhovkva in the evening, lists of those who were to be shot the next morning appeared already at night.”
According to life.pravda.com.ua
