Professor Jan Węglarz, Ph.D. , a graduate of the Adam Mickiewicz University and Poznań Technical University, is an outstanding scientist, a world-wide renowned IT specialist with considerable academic achievements, and a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is an expert in the area of IT and operational research, author of numerous monographs and academic articles published in leading world professional journals, holder of honorary doctorates granted by several higher schools. He is also a winner of many prestigious scientific awards, both national and foreign ones, including the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science, so called Polish Nobel Prize (2000). Professor Węglarz has developed and launched IT infrastructure for the scientific circles in Poland. He works as the Director of the IT Institute at the Poznań University of Technology and a plenipotentiary of the Director of the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences for the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Centre (PCSS), to the establishment of which he made a substantial contribution. PCSS, run by professor Węglarz, plays in Poland a crucial role as the operator of the national network Pionier – Polish Optical Internet.