[1] While still a student in biology, physics and chemistry at the University of Liège he took part in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899) as assistant meteorologist.

[1][2][3] In 1907 Nicholas II of Russia declared amnesty for political refugees, enabling Dobrowolski to return to Warsaw.

[1][4] He founded several observatories and the Society of Geophysicists in Warsaw, and actively promoted polar research in Poland.

During the second Polar Year (1932-1933) he provided practical help and advice to the Polish expedition that overwintered on Bear Island.

His fellow Polish explorers and scientists regarded him as a "father figure", and he naturally became a center of Polar knowledge.