1. Aleksander Wolszczan is the co-discoverer of the first confirmed extrasolar planets and pulsar planets.
19 Facts About Aleksander Wolszczan
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Aleksander Wolszczan is a graduate of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and works as a professor at the Pennsylvania State University.
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Aleksander Wolszczan is the recipient of numerous awards for his groundbreaking contributions in the field of astronomy including Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science, Beatrice M Tinsley Prize and the Marian Smoluchowski Medal of the Polish Physical Society.
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Aleksander Wolszczan was born on 29 April 1946 in Szczecinek located in present-day West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland; in the 1950s his family moved to Szczecin.
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Aleksander Wolszczan observed the night sky using a small telescope he constructed himself.
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Aleksander Wolszczan graduated from Stefan Czarniecki VI High School in Szczecin.
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Aleksander Wolszczan is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
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Aleksander Wolszczan announced his findings in 1992 during the Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta.
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At the Arecibo Observatory, Wolszczan collaborated with Joseph H Taylor Jr and conducted research on millisecond pulsars.
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In 2003 Maciej Konacki and Aleksander Wolszczan determined the orbital inclinations of the two pulsar planets, showing that the actual masses were approximately 3.9 and 4.3 Earth masses respectively.
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In 2007, Aleksander Wolszczan was part of a Polish team of astronomers led by Andrzej Niedzielski that found yet another planet outside the Solar System, HD 17092 b, orbiting star HD 17092.
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In 2012, Matthew Route and Aleksander Wolszczan detected bursts of radio waves emitted from 2MASS J10475385+2124234 using Arecibo Observatory.
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Aleksander Wolszczan is a member of many scientific associations which include: the Polish Academy of Sciences, American Astronomical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, International Union of Radio Science, International Astronomical Union, and Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America.
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At Pennsylvania State University, Aleksander Wolszczan held the Evan Pugh Professorship of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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In 1992 Aleksander Wolszczan won the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science.
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In 1996, he was awarded the Beatrice M Tinsley Prize by the American Astronomical Society, and in 1997 Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski presented him with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for outstanding contributions to Polish science.
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In 2006, Aleksander Wolszczan officially became an honorary citizen of Szczecin.
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Aleksander Wolszczan was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.
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Aleksander Wolszczan confirmed this, but stressed that he was passing only unimportant information, usually publicly known, and that he did not harm anybody.