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Aleksander [Alex] Wolszczan (born 1946)

Contemporary Polish radioastronomer and astrophysicist, one of the foremost researchers of pulsars. Graduated from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland (1969), then earned a Ph.D. degree in physics there in 1975. His Ph.D. thesis concerned spectra of pulsars. Throughout his career he collaborated with Polish and American research centers. Since 1992 he lectured and conducted research on astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University and lectured at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland.

1991-1994:

Discovered the first extraterrestrial planetary system (comprising at least three planets) orbiting pulsar PSR B1257+12' in the constellation Virgin [Virgo]. This is one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the last decade. According to prof. Bohdan Paczynski of Princeton University this is "the greatest discovery Polish astronomers made since Copernicus." The discovery has aroused a worldwide interest and triggered extensive hunt for other extraterrestrial planetary systems, leading to discoveries of many other such systems.

The picture compares sizes and distances of the Sun and its three closest planets (Mercury , Venus , and Earth ) with the pulsar PSR B1257+12' and the three planets discovered by prof. Wolszczan. Note: distances are represented in different scale than sizes - the latter are greatly exaggerated for readability.
[Source: Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State University.]

Prof. Wolszczan has won many awards, including Polish Astronomical Society Award for Young Astronomers (1976); Foundation for Polish Science Award (1992); Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Prize (1993); The Best of What's New - Grand Award of Popular Science Magazine (1994).

Detailed information about prof. Wolszczan is available from his extensive biography posted on the Foundation for Polish Science website.

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Last update: 23.V.2002