Professor Rutkowski dealt with both
basic and
applied research. In the first period of his scientific career, he mainly studied
petrography,
sedimentation, and
physical properties of
carbonate rocks,
sandstones,
gravels, and mineral resources. After his transfer to the Department of Geological Cartography, his research interests extended to issues of
Quaternary geology,
geomorphology, and
geological mapping. His greatest achievements included research into the lithology of the
Niecka Niedziańska chalk, conditions of sedimentation and lithology of
Sarmatian limestones from the south-western
Świętokrzyskie Mountains,
tectonics and
Quaternary deposits around Kraków, as well as the environment of
Wigry Lake. In addition, he developed his own, currently widely used, Quaternary gravel research method, and he was a pioneer in Poland in the universal use of
aerial and
satellite images. The images were used for geological and geomorphological cartography, as well as for the use of
high-resolution seismics for
lake sediment research. He developed his own gravitational core probe for collecting sediments from the lake bottom. Together with Prof.
Elżbieta Mycielska-Dowgiałło, he co-edited and contributed to two books: “Researches of Quaternary sediments, some methods, and interpretation of the results” (1995) and another one on studies of textural features of Quaternary sediments and some methods of their dating (2007). At his
Alma Mater, Jacek Rutkowski lectured on geomorphology, Quaternary geology, geological mapping, and
structural geology. He conveyed his scientific passion to students, first and foremost, during field courses and field research. Prof. Rutkowski devoted the last 20 years of his life to studies of Lake Wigry in the
Suwałki Region. His unique achievement was the organization of an informal, interdisciplinary team of scientists from all over Poland, from students to renowned professors. The group members, drawn by the authority and personality of the professor, under his leadership, devoted themselves (free of charge) to the environmental research of the lake and its surroundings. Beginning with the study of lithology of gravels from the bottom of Wigry, with time, the scope of research was extended to geology,
hydrochemistry,
hydrobiology, sediment
dating, and the study of the evolution of the Wigry lake environment and neighboring lakes (mainly dystrophic ones, called “suchar”). A measurable effect of this group's activity was a hundred dozen
scientific publications, several dozen graduation theses, and a monograph entitled "Lake Wigry. History of the Lake in the Light of Geological and Palaeoecological Research" published in 2009. Jacek Rutkowski was the author or co-author of around 250 scientific papers, including "Kraków" and "Miechów" sheets of the Detailed Geological Map of Poland 1: 50000, promoter of 6 doctoral dissertations, and reviewer of many doctoral and habilitation dissertations. He was an honorary member of the
Polish Geological Society, a founding member of the
Polish Limnological Society, and a member of, among others, the Commission on Quaternary Palaeogeography of the
Polish Academy of Science and Art and the Committee of Quaternary Research of the
Polish Academy of Sciences. ==Awards and decorations==