- Jiří Grygar
Jiří Grygar (
March 17 1936 in Heinersdorf,Germany , nowDziewietlice ,Poland ) is a Czechastronomer and popularizer of science.After studying physics at the
Masaryk University inBrno and astronomy at theCharles University inPrague he joined the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Department of Stellar Astronomy in Ondřejov. Twenty years later he moved to the Institute of Physics, Low Temperature Physics Department atŘež , where he remained for more than ten years. Shortly after theVelvet Revolution he joined the High Energy Physics Department at the same institution. From 1992 to 1998, Grygar chaired theCzech Astronomical Society . He also chaired the Czech Television Council and the Science and Philosophy section of theEuropean Culture Club . He is member of editorial boards of the periodicals "Říše hvězd ", "Vesmír ", "Universum" and "Omega".Grygar holds a
Ph.D. inastrophysics . His papers focus on interplanetary matter (meteor s,comets ),limb darkening instellar atmosphere s, close binaries,novae , chemically peculiar stars andremote sensing .He is well known to the public in the
Czech Republic andSlovakia because of his famous TV series about the Universe - "Okná vesmíru dokorán" ("Wide open windows of the Universe"; 1982 - 1990). He also engages in activities against un-scientificcharlatan ism (in the SISYFOS Club of Skeptics [http://www.sisyfos.cz/sisyfos/infotext_eng.htm] ).External links
* [http://www.astro.cz/~grygar/english.htm Short biography incl. contact information]
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