The Copernicus Foundation for Polish Astronomy (Polish: Fundacja Astronomii Polskiej im. Mikołaja Kopernika) is a Polish scientific foundation which aim is to support Polish astronomy by: financing research, founding stipends, propagation of an astronomical knowledge in the society and activation and stimulation of the astronomical community.[2]

The Copernicus foundation is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland and Prof. Michał Jaroszyński is the chairman of the organization.[3] The Copernicus Foundation is a publisher of an Acta Astronomica - a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering astronomy and astrophysics.

History

The organization was founded in May 1990. The first president was Prof. Marcin Kubiak, and the vice-president - dr hab. Tomasz Chlebowski. Long-term chairman of the Board of the Foundation was Prof. Robert Głębocki (from the beginning till his death in 2005).

Activity

The Foundation is involved in both one-time and recurring activities in accordance to its statute. The notable actions include:

• publishing of peer-reviewed scientific journal Acta Astronomica of international recognition regarding astronomy and astrophysics,[4] which is indexed in Science Citation Index
• financial support of the Astronomical Olympiad in Poland[5]
• support of annual Youth Astronomical Seminar of Poland (Ogólnopolskie Młodzieżowe Seminarium Astronomiczne)[6]
• financial support of the conference of Use of Small Telescopes (Wykorzystanie małych teleskopów), Kraków-Koninki 2013.[7]
• sponsor of the Software Systems for Astronomy - summer school (7-18 July 2014, Poznań, Poland)[8]

The Foundation participated also in the financial support of many issues:

• stipends for best astronomy students (eg. Krzysztof Stanek (1991), Andrzej Kudlicki (1994), Przemysław Woźniak (1995) i Arkadiusz Olech (1996))
• build of the Gamma-ray Bursts detectors by Prof. Lech Mankiewicz[9] (beginnings of the "Pi of the Sky" project).

See also

• List of astronomical societies

References