Jiří Grygar (; born March 17, 1936, in Heinersdorf,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, now Dziewiętlice,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) is a Czech

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

, popularizer of science and

Kalinga Prize The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in popularization of science, presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder ...

(1996) laureate.

Career

After studying physics at the Masaryk University in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

and astronomy at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

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 at

Řež Řež () is a village and administrative part of Husinec (Prague-East District), Husinec in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Řež is the site of a nuclear physics, nuclear research centre, where the first nuclear reactor in the ...

, where he remained for more than ten years. Shortly after the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

he joined the High Energy Physics Department at the same institution. From 1992 to 1998, Grygar chaired the Czech Astronomical Society. He also chaired the Czech Television Council and the Science and Philosophy section of the European Culture Club. He is member of editorial boards of the periodicals ''Říše hvězd'', '' Vesmír'', ''Universum'' and ''Omega''. Grygar holds a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

. His papers focus on interplanetary matter (

meteor A meteor, known colloquially as a shooting star, is a glowing streak of a small body (usually meteoroid) going through Earth's atmosphere, after being heated to incandescence by collisions with air molecules in the upper atmosphere, creating a ...

s, comets), limb darkening in

stellar atmosphere The stellar atmosphere is the outer region of the volume of a star, lying above the stellar core, radiation zone and convection zone. Overview The stellar atmosphere is divided into several regions of distinct character: * The photosphere, whi ...

s, close binaries, novae, chemically peculiar stars and

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

. Between 2004 and 2008, Grygar was the president of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, an association of the leading scholars in the country.

Public appearances

Grygar is well known to the public in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

due to his TV series about the Universe – ''Okna vesmíru dokořán'' ("Wide open windows of the Universe"; 1982–1990). As a member of the Český klub skeptiků Sisyfos scientific skeptic group, he is also a prominent critic of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

and other unproven theories. A practising Catholic, he is also a well-known writer on the topic of the relationship between religion and science.

Honors

On October 26, 1976, a main-belt asteroid 3336 was discovered by a Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek, who named it after Dr. Grygar. In 2009, Dr. Grygar was awarded one of the most prestigious Czech scientific awards, Česká hlava. In 2010, he was the inaugural recipient of the respectable Mensa Czech Republic Award. Grygar is a recipient of a number of other awards.Jiri Grygar curriculum vitae

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grygar, Jiri 1936 births Living people Czech astronomers Czech Roman Catholics Masaryk University alumni Charles University alumni Czech skeptics People from Nysa County Czechoslovak astronomers Kalinga Prize recipients Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czech science communicators Space advocates