Maria Dworzecka, originally Marysia Rozenszajn (June 19, 1941 – January 16, 2023)[1] was a Polish-American computational nuclear physicist and physics educator,[2] and a survivor of the Białystok Ghetto.
[1] Topics in her research have included the Hartree–Fock method, heavy-ion collisions, and the dissipation of nuclear energy; she has also been recognized for her involvement in the development of educational software for physics simulations.
[1] In 1943, Rozenszajn's mother Bela obtained documents identifying her as being Catholic Polish, named Paulina Pakulska, which she used to escape Białystok with her daughter and begin working as a maid in Tykocin.
She was found and taken care of by Lucyna and Wacław Białowarczuk, who had no children and raised her as their own, covering her dark hair in public, and bringing her to pray with them at the Catholic church.
She chaired the Physics & Astronomy Department from 1999 to 2006,[6] and from 2006 to 2011 was Senior Associate Dean for Special Projects in the George Mason College of Science.
[6][8] After Dworzecka retired from George Mason as a professor emerita,[2] she served as a volunteer for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.