Famous NCU Alumni
Aleksander Wolszczan
Graduate in astronomy 1969
Astronomer, the first discoverer of planets outside the Solar System
He discovered the first three planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12, located in the constellation of Virgo. This discovery is considered one of the most important in the history of modern astronomy. It initiated an intensive development of a new field, which became the study of extrasolar planets.
For the first time A. Wolszczan officially presented his discovery at the congress of the American Astronomical Society in Atlanta in January 1992 and published it in the scientific journal ‘Nature’ on 9 January 1992. In 1998 he was on the list of 25 discoverers of all time, published by the ‘Astronomy’ journal.
In February 2005 Aleksander Wolszczan announced that together with Maciej Konacki he had found the fourth planet in the system he discovered in 1991. In May 2007, together with a group of Polish astronomers led by Andrzej Niedzielski, he participated in the discovery of the planet HD 17092 b, orbiting the star HD 17092. This team discovered 17 planetary systems containing a total of 20 planets.
Professor Aleksander Wolszczan is also the holder of the prestigious Evan Pugh Professor title awarded to staff at Penn State University, where he works. He has also received a number of awards and honours for his discoveries.