Sylwester Kaliski (19.12.1925 —16.09.1978) was a Polish theoretical physicist and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1970). He was born in Toruń. He graduated from the Technical University of Gdańsk. In 1951-74 he worked at the Military Engineering Academy in Warsaw (professor from 1961, rector in 1967—74). From 1974 he was Minister of Science, Higher Education and Technology of the Polish People's Republic and from 1977 also director of the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Fusion at the University of Warsaw.
His work concerned mechanics, the physics of cumulative phenomena, plasma physics and the problem of controlled thermonuclear fusion. He was the first to study the interaction of an electron beam with a surface acoustic wave and the phenomena that arise in it, which gave rise to a new field of research — acoustoelectronics. He initiated work on the heating of plasma by laser radiation in a plasma focus, which resulted in a substantial increase in the neutron yield. He was the first to propose using a heavy substance to improve the conditions of the inertial confinement of plasma. State Prizes of the Polish People's Republic (1964, 1970, 1974).