Aleksander Wolszczan (born April 29, 1946 in
Szczecinek' is the one of biggest towns of West Pomeranian Voivodeship . In 2007 the urban area had a population of 39,777...
, Poland) is a Polish
astronomerAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
. He is the co-discoverer of the first
extrasolar planetAn extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond our solar system, orbiting a star other than our Sun. , 403 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. The vast majority have been detected through radial velocity observations and other indirect methods rather than actual...
s and
pulsar planetPulsar planets are planets that are found orbiting pulsars, or rapidly rotating neutron stars. The first such planet to be discovered was around a millisecond pulsar and was the first extrasolar planet to be discovered.-Pulsar planets:...
s.
Wolszczan was educated in Poland (
MSc- Education:* Macon State College* Magister Scientiae, a degree that, before the Bologna process, differed slightly from the Master of Science* Math, Science, and Computers program at Winston Churchill High School...
in 1969 and received his
PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
in 1975 at the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is located in Toruń, Poland. It was named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was born in Toruń in 1473.-School Authorities:*Rector: Prof. Andrzej Jamiołkowski...
), He moved in 1982 to the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to work at
CornellCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
and
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
. Later he became an astronomy professor at
Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University is a state-related, land-grant, space grant public research university located in the University Park area and within State College and College Township in Pennsylvania, United States...
, where he currently teaches. From 1994 to 2008 he was also a professor at the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is located in Toruń, Poland. It was named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was born in Toruń in 1473.-School Authorities:*Rector: Prof. Andrzej Jamiołkowski...
.
Aleksander Wolszczan (born April 29, 1946 in
Szczecinek' is the one of biggest towns of West Pomeranian Voivodeship . In 2007 the urban area had a population of 39,777...
, Poland) is a Polish
astronomerAstronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere...
. He is the co-discoverer of the first
extrasolar planetAn extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond our solar system, orbiting a star other than our Sun. , 403 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. The vast majority have been detected through radial velocity observations and other indirect methods rather than actual...
s and
pulsar planetPulsar planets are planets that are found orbiting pulsars, or rapidly rotating neutron stars. The first such planet to be discovered was around a millisecond pulsar and was the first extrasolar planet to be discovered.-Pulsar planets:...
s.
Scientific career
Wolszczan was educated in Poland (
MSc- Education:* Macon State College* Magister Scientiae, a degree that, before the Bologna process, differed slightly from the Master of Science* Math, Science, and Computers program at Winston Churchill High School...
in 1969 and received his
PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
in 1975 at the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is located in Toruń, Poland. It was named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was born in Toruń in 1473.-School Authorities:*Rector: Prof. Andrzej Jamiołkowski...
), He moved in 1982 to the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to work at
CornellCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
and
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
. Later he became an astronomy professor at
Pennsylvania State UniversityThe Pennsylvania State University is a state-related, land-grant, space grant public research university located in the University Park area and within State College and College Township in Pennsylvania, United States...
, where he currently teaches. From 1994 to 2008 he was also a professor at the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in ToruńNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń is located in Toruń, Poland. It was named after Nicolaus Copernicus who was born in Toruń in 1473.-School Authorities:*Rector: Prof. Andrzej Jamiołkowski...
. He is a member of the
Polish Academy of SciencesThe Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...
.
Working with
Dale FrailDale A. Frail is a Canadian radio astronomer working for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1989...
, Wolszczan carried out astronomical observations from the
Arecibo ObservatoryThe Arecibo Observatory is a radio telescope located close to the city of Arecibo in Puerto Rico. It is operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The observatory works as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center although both names are...
in
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
which led them to the discovery of the
pulsarPulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The observed periods of their pulses range from 1.4 milliseconds to 8.5 seconds. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth. This is called the...
PSR B1257+12PSR B1257+12, sometimes abbreviated as PSR 1257+12, is a pulsar located 980 light-years from the Sun. As of 2007, it is confirmed that three extrasolar planets orbit the pulsar.- Pulsar :...
in 1990. They showed in 1992 that the pulsar is orbited by two planets. Their orbits are 0.36 and 0.47
AUAn astronomical unit is a unit of length roughly equal to the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is approximately 150 million kilometres ....
respectively. This was the first confirmed discovery of planets outside the
Solar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago...
(several hundred are known today).
In 1996, Wolszczan was awarded the
Beatrice M. Tinsley PrizeThe Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize is awarded every other year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of an outstanding research contribution to astronomy or astrophysics of an exceptionally creative or innovative character...
by the
American Astronomical SocietyThe American Astronomical Society is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The basic objective of the AAS is to promote the advancement of astronomy and closely related branches of science...
, and in 2002, he was pictured on a Polish postage stamp.
http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Wolszczan2-2002.htm
In 2003
Maciej KonackiDr. Maciej Konacki is a Polish astronomer, notable for his discovery of HD 188753 Ab, the first planet discovered in a three star system.- Education :...
and Wolszczan determined the orbital inclinations of the two pulsar planets, showing that the actual masses are approximately 3.9 and 4.3 Earth masses.
Involvement with the security service
On September 17, 2008 Wolszczan acknowledged earlier allegations that from 1973 until 1988 he had been a paid informer of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Służba Bezpieczeństwa), the Communist
secret policeSecret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy to maintain national security against internal threats to the state....
of the former
People's Republic of PolandThe Polish People's Republic was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990.Although the Polish People's Republic was a sovereign state as defined by international law, its leaders were at the very least approved by the Kremlin...
.
See also
- Pulsar planet
Pulsar planets are planets that are found orbiting pulsars, or rapidly rotating neutron stars. The first such planet to be discovered was around a millisecond pulsar and was the first extrasolar planet to be discovered.-Pulsar planets:...
- Extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet beyond our solar system, orbiting a star other than our Sun. , 403 exoplanets are listed in the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. The vast majority have been detected through radial velocity observations and other indirect methods rather than actual...
- List of stars with confirmed extrasolar planets
External links