Alex Wolszczan

Aleksander Wolszczan
Aleksander Wolszczan
Born	(1946-04-29) 29 April 1946 (age 71) Szczecinek, Poland
Nationality	Polish
Fields	Astronomer
Alma mater	Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
Known for	Discovery of the first extrasolar planets and pulsar planets
Notable awards	Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science (1992) Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize (1996) Order of Polonia Restituta (1997)

Aleksander Wolszczan [alɛkˈsandɛr ˈvɔlʂt͡ʂan] (born 29 April 1946 in Szczecinek, Poland) is a Polish astronomer. He is the co-discoverer of the first extrasolar planets and pulsar planets.

He was born on 29 April 1946 in Szczecinek located in present-day West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland; in the 1950s his family moved to Szczecin. His father Jerzy Wolszczan taught economics at former Szczecin Polytechnic (currently West Pomeranian University of Technology) and his mother, Zofia, worked for the Polish Writers' Union. His early interest in astronomy was inspired by his father who told him stories and myths connected with stellar constellations. As as a seven-year-old he already learned the basics of astronomy. He observed the night sky using a small telescope he constructed himself. He graduated from Stefan Czarniecki VI High School in Szczecin.

Wolszczan sat for an M.Sc. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in 1975 at the Nicolaus Copernicus University. Between 1969-73 he worked at the Department of Radioastronomy of the Institute of Astronomy. In 1973, as a senior assistant, he moved to Bonn for a training at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. From 1979 to 1982 he worked at the Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Toruń. In 1982, he moved to the U.S. to work at Cornell and Princeton universities. Later he became an astronomy professor at Pennsylvania State University. From 1994 to 2008, he was also a professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University. He is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.