As a pupil in the German-occupied part of Poland, he was prosecuted for speaking Polish in school, so his parents sent him to Liège. In 1888 he started studying mathematics, physics and astronomy at the University of Liège, and chemistry and geology at the Sorbonne. Upon completion in 1893, he returned to Liège where he worked in the laboratory of professor Spring in the chemistry department until 1869.[1] In 1893, to emphasize his Polishness, Artzt asked the Belgian government for permission to change his name to Arctowski.