Nearly 1.5 million lives have been saved across the world due to the invention of the polio vaccine. It’s considered one of the most significant scientific accomplishments by a Polish inventor – Hilary Koprowski, who came up with the vaccine in 1948 and tested it on himself before mass manufacturing began.

This is just one of the ways in which a Polish inventor changed the world.

British School of Sofia (BSS) students learned about this important development, as well as multiple other Polish inventions when they attended an interactive scientific exhibition at TechnoMagicLand at the beginning of June 2025.

Polish Inventions That Changed the World presented incredible innovations like the kerosene lamp, the LCD screen, the walkie-talkie, and the first handheld film camera.

The exhibition occurred in collaboration with the Polish Institute in Sofia and the National Museum of Technology in Warsaw.

Many of the Polish inventors who came up with world-changing prototypes and scientific developments have amazing and inspiring personal stories. Many of them have had to do their work abroad, due to war and political turmoil in their country. These conditions, however, inspired work that affected the lives of millions in the aftermath of the invention.

As a part of the experience, BSS students had the incredible opportunity to acquaint themselves with a handheld mine detector developed by Jozef Kosacki. This electromagnetic device was created in 1941. During World War II Kosacki gave up the patent for his invention, which helped save thousands of lives. And while it was invented so long ago, the mine detector continued being in use with some modifications until the 1990s.

During our TechnoMagicLand visit, the BSS science students participated in a workshop that shed more light on the effectiveness of these important inventions and the way they continue to impact lives even today.