Born on 2nd July 1864 in Drohobych, Leon Sternbach, son of Jozef , was a professor of Classical Philology at the Jagiellonian University, Byzantineist, member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A Drohobych gymnasium graduate, who later studied at the universities in Leipzig and Dresden (1882-1883) and in Vienna (1883-1885), where he obtained his doctorate. He obtained his habilitation and doctorate at the University of Lviv in 1889. However, for all his life, Leon Sternbach remained professionally and scientifically associated with the Jagiellonian University. He received the title of associate professor in 1892, and full professor in 1897. He retired in 1935 having received the title of honorary professor. In the academic year 1904/1905 he was the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1893, Leon Sternbach became a member of the AU , then the PAU (the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences). In 1918, he received an honorary doctorate from the Krakow university.
Leon Sternbach is considered one of the most outstanding Byzantinists in the world, as he contributed to the modernisation of the research methodology in this field. He educated several well-known and respected Polish scientists.
In November 1939, after the war broke out, he was sent to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, as part of the so-called Sonderaktion Krakau, where he was murdered on 20th February 1940.
Leon Sternbach is buried at the new Jewish cemetery in Krakow.
Photo courtesy of the Jagiellonian University Archive.
Photo of Leon Sternabach’s tomb (fot. GWŻ – Jewish Reigious Community)