Astronomy in Poland

The Organisation Astronomy in Poland Marek Sarna1 Figure 1. Mikołaj Kazimierz Stępień2 Kopernik pictured in his Frombork observatory. From the painting by Jan Matejko (1838–89). 1 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland 2 Warsaw University Observatory, Poland Polish post-war astronomy was built virtually from nothing. Currently, about 250 astronomers are employed in seven academic institutes and a few smaller units across Poland. Broad areas of astrophysics are covered and the level of astronomical research in Poland is higher than the world average. Joining ESO has created an atmosphere that Gorgolewski (in radio astronomy), liant Polish scientists decided to stay for is conducive to further improvements in Stanisław Grzędzielski (interstellar and good at different western academic the quality of Polish research, and it interplanetary matter), Jan Hanasz institutions. Nonetheless, most of them marks an important step towards the full (radio astronomy, space research), Jerzy preserved close ties with their Polish integration of Polish astronomers into Jakimiec (in the field of Solar flares), colleagues, e.g., by inviting them to visit the international scientific community. Tadeusz Jarzębowski (photometry of vari- abroad and carrying out collaborative able stars), Andrzej Kruszewski (polarisa- research or providing support for scien- tion of starlight, variable stars and extra- tific libraries. As soon as Poland achieved Poland is a country with a long astronomi- galactic astronomy), Wojciech Krzemiński independence, the older emigrant astron- cal tradition: Mikołaj Kopernik (Nicolaus (variable stars), Jan Kubikowski (stellar omers frequently began to visit Poland Copernicus, 1473–1543) with his great atmospheres), Józef Masłowski (radio for both shorter and longer stays. Nowa- work on the heliocentric system, or Jan astronomy), Andrzej Pacholczyk (magne- days young scientists almost always Heweliusz (Johannes Hevelius, 1611– tohydrodynamics and radio galaxies), come back from abroad to their home 1687), the author of Selenographia and Bogdan Rompolt (dynamics of the Solar institutions. inventor of several constellation names atmosphere), Krzysztof Serkowski (polari- still in use, being two examples. However, sation of starlight and instrumentation), There are currently about 250 profes- starting from the end of the 18th century Grzegorz Sitarski (dynamics of comets sional astronomers (with 155 International Poland entered a dark period in its his- and asteroids), Józef Smak (stellar evolu- Astronomical Union members among tory. The Polish state disappeared from tion, cataclysmic variables and accretion them) in Poland, most of them working in the map of Europe for about 120 years discs), Jan Smoliński (luminous variable six separate university institutes and two and wars swept Polish soil during every stars), Antoni Stawikowski (stellar spectro institutes of the Polish Academy of Sci- generation. The last one, World War II, scopy), Jerzy Stodółkiewicz (magneto ences. A few individual astronomers hold left Poland ruined, with a devastated hydrodynamics and dynamics of globular positions in other institutions, mostly intelligentsia and no scientific resources. clusters), Wiesław Wiśniewski (stellar within institutes of physics. According to photometry, comets) and Andrzej data from Science Watch — a newsletter The very few professional astronomers Woszczyk (planetary systems and varia- published by the Thomson Institute — who survived the war started to build ble stars). 1777 papers on space science were scientific centres in some cities, literally published in the years 2009–2013 with from scratch. These were Włodzimierz In the mid-1950s, when the oppression at least one author affiliated in Poland Zonn, Stefan Piotrowski and Maciej of the communist system softened, the (2.66 % of world production). These Bielicki (in Warsaw); Władysław Dziewulski “old” professors renewed their pre-war papers were cited 11.83 times on aver- and Wilhelmina Iwanowska (in Toruń), contacts with foreign scientific institutions age, as compared to 9.61 for the world Tadeusz Banachiewicz, Rozalia Szafraniec and recommended their best students average, showing that the quality of and Karol Kozieł (in Cracow); Eugeniusz as candidates to visit leading astronomi- Polish research in astronomy is high. In Rybka, Antoni Opolski and Jan cal institutes. After returning home, the the Astronomical Data System (ADS) Mergentaler (in Wrocław); and Józef young astronomers continued to carry database, we found six papers cited over Witkowski and Hieronim Hurnik (Poznań). out world-class research and started to 1000 times and nine more papers cited A modern approach to research and train the second generation of post-war between 800 and 1000 times with Polish university courses meant that their first astronomers. Unfortunately, the freedom astronomers as authors/coauthors (but students rapidly reached a world-class to go abroad also has a dark side: Poland not necessarily affiliated in Poland at the level. Prominent examples are: Stanisław fell victim to a brain drain, as several bril- time of writing). 2 The Messenger 161 – September 2015 Figure 2. Two (of four) automatic telescopes from Figure 3. The Warsaw Observatory’s 1.3metre tele- the Solaris telescope located at the South African scope in Las Campanas, equipped with the 32-chip Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), South Africa. CCD camera built in Warsaw, one of the largest in the world, and used for the OGLE survey. We describe the six astronomy institutes, in astrophysics. Currently these include: and high energy astrophysics (Paweł their staff complements and areas of observational and theoretical aspects of Haensel and Andrzej Zdziarski). expertise in the following sections. stellar astrophysics (e.g., astroseismology), stellar systems (globular clusters, dwarf The researchers are involved in a number galaxies), nuclear matter, physical pro- of large international projects and collab- Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Centre cesses around compact objects (accre- orations. of the Polish Academy of Sciences tion discs, jets and outflows), circum stellar matter, structure and evolution of Projects involving international cooper The Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical active galaxies, cosmology and extraso- ation are concentrated around the Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences lar planetary systems. Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and (NCAC PAS1) is the largest astronomical the High Energy Stereoscopic System institute in Poland. It is located in Poland’s NCAC PAS employs more than 40 full (H.E.S.S.) working in the highenergy capital Warsaw, with a branch in the city time scientific staff (including postdocs), gammaray domain, and the South Afri- of Nicolaus Copernicus’s birth, Toruń. and runs a postgraduate programme for can Large Telescope (SALT), with a about 25 students. Each year there are diameter of ten metres. NCAC astrono- The history of NCAC PAS started in the openings (on a competitive basis) for mers are also members of teams involved 1950s, when the idea of building a three and fiveyear positions at NCAC. in cosmic experiments, such as INTE- national astronomical observatory was The positions for three years are open to GRAL, Herschel or BRITEPL (a project first formulated. The failure of the first young researchers who have just com- for the observation of stellar pulsations idea led Bohdan Paczyński and J. Smak pleted their PhDs. Positions for five years with six photometric nano-satellites). to suggest that a theoretical astrophysical may lead to a permanent position. The centre operates the ground commu- research institute should be established nication station for the constellation of instead. This idea gained important The most important contributions of astroseismology satellites BRITE — a support from the American National NCAC scientists to modern astronomy joint project involving Austria, Canada Academy of Sciences, as a result of and astrophysics include papers on and Poland and headed by Aleksander preparations for the celebrations of the stellar evolution and accretion disc SchwarzenbergCzerny. The new pro- Nicolaus Copernicus Quincentennial theory by B. Paczyński and J. Smak. gramme Solaris (involving Maciej Konacki), (1973). The USA provided financial sup- The other important topics are helio- aimed at accurate spectroscopic port for the creation of the institute. The and astro seismology (led by Wojciech ob servations of binaries with four small Centre was finally opened in 1978 and Dziembowski), variable stars (Janusz (50-centimetre) automated telescopes immediately started vigorous research Kałużny, Joanna Mikołajewska and distributed around the world, is also activity across a broad range of subjects Romuald Tylenda), nuclear matter physics worth mentioning (see Figure 2). This The Messenger 161 – September 2015 3 The Organisation Sarna M. & Stępień K., Astronomy in Poland programme aims to determine accurate variable stars were detected by OGLE. and radio astronomy (led by Marek parameters of binary stars, and to search Fifty exoplanets have been discovered Urbanik, Michał Ostrowski and collabo for planets around them. so far using transit and microlensing rators). The observatory is involved in techniques and several new Kuiper Belt exploiting the large facilities H.E.S.S., the Astronomers from NCAC are active in objects have been identified. The pro- CTA, the LOw Freqeuncy ARray (LOFAR) collaborations with scientists

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