Robert Smolańczuk (born 17 April 1962) is a Polish theoretical nuclear physicist. He was born in Olecko, Poland (currently in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship). Smolańczuk earned a Master’s degree in physics from the University of Warsaw in 1988 and received his doctorate from the Andrzej Sołtan Institute for Nuclear Studies in Otwock in 1996. He obtained habilitation in theoretical nuclear physics from the same institute in 2008.
From 1998 to 2000, Smolańczuk conducted research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in California as a Fulbright Fellow. During this period, he proposed that a lead‑krypton collision could synthesize the superheavy element oganesson (element 118). Although an experimental attempt at LBNL in 1999 initially reported success, the results were later determined to be fabricated, and the reaction is now considered unlikely to succeed.
Smolańczuk was awarded the Nitschke Award in 1999 for developing a phenomenological model of superheavy‑nuclei synthesis. He has authored numerous publications on nuclear reaction mechanisms and the production of superheavy elements. As of the latest available information, he is employed at the National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Otwock, Poland, where he continues research in theoretical nuclear physics.