Description

Geographical position 

Astronomical Observatory Nicolaus Copernicus of the Jagiellonian University, Collegium Śniadecki,
Institute of the Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science of the Jagiellonian University,
ul. Mikołaja Kopernika 27, Kraków (Cracow, Krakau), Poland

New location: Fort Skała Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, ul. Orla 171, PL-30-244 Kraków --
Wola Justowska, about 10 km west of the city center of Kraków
(Latitude 50°03’12,6’’ N, Longitude 19°49’30,2’’ E).

Location 

Collegium Śniadecki:
Latitude 50°03’49,202’’ N, Longitude 19°57’21,398’’ E, Elevation ...m above mean sea level.

IAU observatory code 

055

Description of (scientific/cultural/natural) heritage 

 

The excellent astronomical tradition of the Cracow University, dating back to the 15th century, where Copernicus studied, (cf. Hermann Schedel (1440--1514): Liber Chronicarum. Nuremberg 1493) did not continue.
Marcin Bylica (1433--1493) from Olkusz, court astronomer and physician of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus [Maciej Korwin] in Buda since 1470, and from 1490 also for his successor Vladislav II [Ladislaus]; Bylica was co-operator of Regiomontanus [Johannes Müller] (1436--1476), who worked in Hungary from 1467 to 1471. The portable astronomical instruments of Bylica, a donation to the University in 1493, have been preserved to this day in the Jagiellonian University Museum: astrolabes (including an Islamic astrolabe from Córdoba (1054) - the oldest scientific instrument in Poland), three brass instruments from 15th century, made by Hans Dorn (fl. 1478 in Buda, ÔÇá1493) around 1480: a torquetum, an astrolabe, and a celestial globe - instruments which prove that observational, not only theoretical, astronomy was practiced in Kraków -- Copernicus, the most outstanding student of the Jagiellonian University from 1491 to 1496, had access to the instruments.
In addition, in the 16th century, the so-called Jagiellonian Globe, an armillary sphere with a clockwork mechanism, was donated. In the 17th century, the mathematician and astronomer Jan Brozek [Ioannes Broscius] (1585--1652), in 1614, head of the Astronomy and Astrology Faculty, rector of Jagiellonian University, biographer of Copernicus, donated the oldest preserved terrestrial globe on which features the name "America".

"In acknowledgement of Krakow’s contribution to world culture, the city’s historical and architectural Old Town was registered by UNESCO in the 1st World Cultural Heritage List in 1978. The decision states that Krakow grants to future generations this unique collection of monuments of ancient culture - outstanding works of art and architecture"
(http://www.museums.krakow.travel/en/project).

But the astronomical traditions of the Cracow Academy of the 15th century were forgotten, and the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was not accepted. The curriculum, including lectures in astronomy according to Ptolemy and Peuerbach, was compulsory until the 18th century.

 

Foundation of Cracow Observatory (1782--1824), Jan Śniadecki

Jan ┼Üniadecki (1756--1830), started to study in Cracow in 1772, continued his studies for one year in Göttingen with Abraham Gotthelf Kästner (1719--1800), then in The Netherlands and in Paris (with Jérôme Lalande, Charles Messier, and Jean le Rond d’Alembert), and was appointed in 1781 as professor of higher mathematics and astronomy (until 1803).
In 1787/92, the construction of the observatory began -- in the Botanical Garden (1783) on the site of the former Czartoryski Garden, which was bought in 1752 by the Jesuits. The patron of the construction was King Stanisław II August Poniatowski (1732--1798), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795. The architect of the observatory was Feliks Radwański, Sr (1756--1826), constructed in 1786/91.

 

 

Jan Śniadecki travelled to England (Cambridge, Oxford, London, Greenwich, and Slough), Germany and France, in order to get good instruments. The first observations were made: positions of the Sun and the Moon, eclipses of the satellites of Jupiter, transits of planets over the solar disc as well as occultations of stars and planets by the Moon. Śniadecki also planned observations of comets and variable stars -- a kind of research, which was typical not before the time of Argelander. In Cracow the longest in Poland, unbroken series of meteorological observations has been recorded and preserved.

Many astronomers and directors worked for only a short time in Cracow.
After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Free City of Kraków was established, and in 1817, the university got its present name: the Jagiellonian University.

 

Development of Cracow Observatory (1825--1916), Weisse, Karliński and Rudzki

In 1825, Littrow’s assistant in Vienna, Maximilian Ritter von Weiße (1798--1863), was called as professor and stayed for 36 years, 1825 to 1861. He calculated positions of the planets using the Gaussian method. Then new instruments for astrometry were purchased, including an meridian circle and meteorological instruments; he observed the asteroids Pallas, Vesta und Melpomene. Weisse developed a catalogue of the positions of 31,085 stars in Bessel’s declination zones, published in 1846 as Positiones mediae stellarum fixarum in zonis Regiomontanis a Besselio inter -15° to +15° declinationis observatorum, ad annum 1825 reductae et in catalogum ordinatae was published under the auspices of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, (2nd volume) with positions of 31,445 stars, 1863. The observatory building was restored in 1829 and 1858/59.
In 1855, Cracow belonged again to Austria (until 1919)..
 

The next director Franciszek Michaeł Karliński (1830--1906) was also an outstanding researcher, discovered the variability of R Canum Venaticorum (Mira variable star) besides meteorological, hydrological and geodetic observations, as well as positional astronomy. These were part of an international network, where the results were sent to Vienna, St. Petersburg, Hamburg and Utrecht.

 

In the 1880s, Karliński’s son-in-law, the theoretical physicist Ludwik Antoni Birkenmajer (1855--1929), joined the observatory, determined the orbits of double stars and moons of the planets -- and became later famous as an outstanding researcher of the life and work of Copernicus.

Maurycy Pius Rudzki (1862--1916) did not succeed to build a new observatory outside of the city. He developed the geophysical branch and created a seismological station based on two Bosch seismographs with horizontal pendulums (1903). He published  textbooks Physics of the Earth (1909, in German 1911), Theoretical Astronomy (1914), and Principles of Meteorology, edited by his assistant Jan Krassowski (1917).
Shortly, Władysław Dziewulski (1878--1962) was director from 1916 to 1919.

 

Development of Cracow Observatory (1919--1958), Banachiewicz

In 1919, Cracow was again part of Poland.
Tadeusz Banachiewicz (1882--1954), graduated from the University of Warsaw, stayed in Göttingen, Pulkovo and Kazan, studied in Moscow and Dorpat (1917 master), stayed for 35 years in Cracow, 1919 to 1954 -- a very successful time for Cracow observatory.
He created an international center for the study of eclipsing variables in Cracow, issuing its ephemeris. In 1925, he founded the journal Acta Astronomica, and he developed the Banachiewicz-Olbers method for the determination of parabolic orbits.
Banachiewicz had very innovative ideas: In 1927, he used together with associate professor Kazimierz Kordylewski a chronokinematograph for observing a solar eclipse, and in the following year, he proposed establishing a continental geodetic networks across the oceans using positional observations of the Moon.
Banachiewicz was also a pioneer of radio astronomy in Poland; it started with a radio telescope of 5-m-diameter (1954). He was vice-president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1932 to 1938, and president of IAU Commission No. 17 (Moon Movements and Figure) in 1938--1954.

In the 1920s, he launched a remote observation station in Lubomir, destroyed in 1944; here several comets were discovered.

In 1953, Banachiewicz obtained from the military authorities Fort Skała (built in 1884, rebuilt in 1902) on the western outskirts of Cracow, where the first radio telescope was placed.
 

Karol Kozieł (1910--1996) was the next director from 1955 to 1958, interested in the field of the Moon’s rotation and figure - in the time of space flight, Lunar Orbiter and LLR (Lunar Laser Ranging).

 

Development of Cracow Observatory (1958--1979)

In 1958, the Department of Observational Astronomy with the Astronomical Observatory with Eugeniusz Rybka (1898--1988)from Wrocław as head was created, director from 1958 to 1968. In addition, the Department of Theoretical Astronomy and Astronomical Geophysics, including magnetic declination observations, meteorology, and Radio Astronomy was created. After the 5m, enlarged to 7m, a 15-m-Radio Telescope RT-15 was set up in the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Fort Skała.

In 1964, a jubilee 600 years of Jagiellonian University, was celebrated in Cracow. Five domes were erected in Fort Skała, Astronomical Observatory Nicolaus Copernicus of the Jagiellonian University. Two domes were built for telescopes, made by Carl Zeiss of Jena; the Grubb refractor and Grubb astrograph have been moved to the remaining domes, one remained empty.

Konrad Rudnicki (1926--2013) from Warsaw, director 1968 to 1999, was a priest of the Old Catholic Mariavite Church; his professional interests were: stellar and extra-galactic astronomy, cosmology, methodology of astronomy and science.
In addition, the next two directors were interested in theoretical astrophysics, Karol Kozieł (1910--1996), director from 1958 to 1974, and Andrzej Zi─Öba (1929--1986), a mathematician of Wrocław, director from 1974 to 1978.

The assistant professor was the future eminent astrophysicist, professor Stefan Ginwill-Piotrowski, who obtained his doctorate in 1938, and immediately after WWII, he was in Kraków with Adam Strzalkowski, later a professor of physics, and a pioneer of photoelectric photometry. He worked on determining the orbits of eclipsing binaries.

 

History 

 

Directors

• Jan ┼Üniadecki (1756--1830), 1781 to 1803, then director in Vilnius 1803
• Józef Franciszek Stanisław ┼ü─Öski (1760--1825), 1803 to 1804, then in Warsaw, Paris 1809--1811
• Józef Czech (1762--1810), 1794 professor Crown School in Krakow, director 1804 to 1805, 1805 director Krzemieniec
• Wacław Voit (....), 1806 to 1807
• Franciszek Kodesch (1761--1831), 1808 to 1809, Lviv 1815
• Johann Joseph Littrow (1781--1840), 1808, director in Kazan in 1810
• Joachim Karkowski (....), 1810
• Józef Franciszek Stanisław ┼ü─Öski (1760--1825), 1811 to 1824
   
• Maximilian von Weisse (1798--1863), 1825 to 1862
• Franciszek Michał Karliński (1830--1906), 1862 to 1902
• Maurycy Pius Rudzki (1862--1916), professor in Odessa, 1902 to 1916
• Władysław Dziewulski (1878--1962), 1916 to 1919
   
• Tadeusz Banachiewicz (1882--1954), 1919 to 1954
• Karol Kozieł (1910--1996), 1955 to 1958

Astronomical Observatory -- 1984 Stellar and Extragalactic Astronomy

• Eugeniusz Rybka (1898--1988), 1958 to 1968
• Konrad Rudnicki (1926--2013), director 1968 to 1999
• Jerzy Machalski (*1935), 1999 to 2012, IAU Commission 40 Radio Astronomy (until 2015)
• Stanisław Zoła, 2012 to 2020

 

Department of High Energy Astrophysics

• ┼üukasz Stawarz

 

Department of Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology

• Zdzisław Golda

 

Theoretical Astronomy and Astronomical Geophysics -- 1984 Radioastronomy and Space Physics

• Karol Kozieł (1910--1996), 1958 to 1974
• Andrzej Zi─Öba (1929--1986), 1974 to 1978
• Józef Masłowski (1931--2020), 1979 to 1984
• Konrad Rudnicki (1926--2013), 1984 to 1989
• Józef Masłowski (1931--2020), 1989 to 1999
• Michał Ostrowski, 1999
• Krzysztof Chy┼║y, 1999 to 2020
• Marian Soida, 2020 to ...

 

Original Instruments

• 3-foot-brass quadrant, Jacques Canivet of Paris
• 14-inch-brass quadrant, Jesse Ramsden of London
• some small achromatic refractors
• Achromatic Transit instrument, Charité of Paris (mural quadrant)
• Three pendulum clocks, Lepaute of Paris, Shelton of London, and a clock, made in Vienna -- English mode
• 5-foot and 5-inch parallactic telescopes with a rhomboidal micrometer
• two achromatic telescopes, Dollond of London
• 2 small reflectors (Newton and Gregory types)
• Meteorological instruments
• Globes (astronomical, terrestrial, and an armillary sphere).
   
• Achromatic Dollond refractor (lens of 25 lines and a focal length of 28 inches)
• 10.5-cm-Dollond reflector
• Meridian telescope (1786)
• 84-mm-Meridian Circle, made by the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna
• New meteorological instruments
• Bosch seismographs with horizontal pendulums (1903)

Radio Telescopes and Modern Instruments

• chronokinematograph for observing a solar eclipse
• 3-m-Radio Telescope RT-3
• 5-m-Radio Telescope (1954)
• 7-m-Radio Solar Telescope (until 1995, then replaced by RT-8)
• 15-m-Radio Telescope RT-15
• Solar Radio Telescope RT-8, polar mounted parabolic antenna,
  for the systematic daily radio observations of  the Sun at 10 frequences from 275 to 1755 MHz
   
• 20-cm-Refractor with photoelectric photometer, Grubb Parsons of Newcastle upon Tyne
• 12-cm-Double Astrograph, Grubb Parsons of Newcastle upon Tyne
• 35-cm-Maksutov Meniscus telescope (f=3.3m), Carl Zeiss of Jena (1965)
• 50-cm-Cassegrain telescope (f=7.5m), Carl Zeiss of Jena (1970)

 

State of preservation 

The Collegium Śniadecki (formerly Astronomical Observatory Nicolaus Copernicus of the Jagiellonian University) in Cracow and the Fort Skała Astronomical Observatory are well preserved.

Threats or potential threats 

no threats

Present use 

The Fort Skała Astronomical Observatory is still used for astronomical observations, including radio astronomy.

Astronomical relevance today 

The Fort Skała Astronomical Observatory is still active in astrophysics with the modern topics: observations of solar radio radiation, studies of extragalactic radio sources, active galactic nuclei, interstellar and intergalactic matter, galaxy physics, magnetic fields in the universe, and large-scale structure of the universe.

A new Observation Station was opened in 1987 in Roztoki Górne in the Bieszczady Mountains, the Astronomical Observatory at Suhora (Latitude 49°34’09’’ N, Longitude 20°04’03’’ E, Altitude 1009m above sea level).
The idea of building a modern astronomical observatory in a mountainous region, and therefore in good climatic conditions came from Professor Jerzy M. Kreiner, in the first half of 1983 under the management of the Kraków Pedagogical University. The building was designed by R. Walczykiewicz. A 60-cm-Cassegrain Telescope with Photometer or with CCD-Camera is used. With "The Whole Earth Telescope" (1991) simultaneous observations of the variable stars throughout a 24 hour period were carried out.

References

Bibliography (books and published articles) 

• Bartha, Lajos: Ein Renaissance-Himmelsglobus als astronomisches Instrument, der Dorn-Bylica-Globus aus dem Jahr 1480. In: Report on the VIIth International Symposium of the Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes. Der Globusfreund (November 1990 für 1990/91), Nr. 38/39, p. 37-44.
   
• Kubiak, Marcin & Iwona Korzeniewska: Astronomical observatories in Poland. In: Astronomical observatories in Poland. Edited by the Local Organizing Committee for the Extraordinary General Assembly of the IAU in Poland. Warszawa (Poland): Polish Astronomical Society. PWN - Polish Scientific Publishers 1973 (62 p.), (1973aop..book.....K).
   
• Mietelski, Jan: Two hundred years of the Cracow Observatory. In: Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego MCXIX (1993), http://www.oa.uj.edu.pl/history.pl.html.
   
• Stachowski, Greg; Bajan, Katarzyna; Kuligowska, Elzbieta &Tomasz Kundera: Photographic plates from 1911 rediscovered at the Kraków Observatory. In: XXXIX Polish Astronomical Society Meeting, held 9-12 September 2019 in Olsztyn, Poland. Edited by K. Małek, M. Polińska, A. Majczyna, G. Stachowski, R. Poleski, ┼ü. Wyrzykowski, A. Rózańska. Proceedings of the Polish Astronomical Society 10 (2020), p. 361-363.
   
• Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (ed.): Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543) -- Revolutionär wider Willen. [Revolutionary against will. Begleitbuch / Katalog zur Ausstellung im Zeiss Großplanetarium in Berlin, Juli bis Oktober 1994. Stuttgart: Verlag für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und Technik 1994.

 

Links to external sites 

• Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego Collegium Maius
  
• Jagiellonian University Museum
  
• Jagiellonian University Museum, Copernicus Treasury
  
• NCT ┬╗ Biography ┬╗ Copernicus in Kraków (1491-1495) ┬╗ Copernicus and Copernicana in Kraków
  
  
  
• Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (OA UJ), Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
  
• Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (OA UJ), Instruments
  
• Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (OA UJ), Departments
  
• Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Scientific Research
  
• Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (Wikipedia)
  
  
• Fort Skała Obserwatorium Astronomiczne Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego
• Mt. Suhora Astronomical Observatory, Astronomy Department of the Pedagogical University in Kraków, Poland - in the Gorce mountains, near Koninki village, approximately 60 km south-east of Kraków