Miroslav Plavec ( Czech Miroslav Plavec ; October 7, 1925 , Sedlcany (now the Příbram region of the Central Bohemian Territory of the Czech Republic ) - January 23, 2008 , California, USA ) - Czech and American astronomer . Specialist in the study of binary stars .
| Miroslav Plavets | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
| Occupation | |
| Awards and prizes | Frantisek Nushl Prize ( 2000 ) |
Biography
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, his father, a city official, was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he died 6 months later. Being the eldest child, Miroslav became the head of the family. The civilian population in 1943 was evicted from the city by the German authorities. Miroslav together with his mother and younger brother moved to Ondrzhey, where the famous observatory is located. From that moment began his passion for astronomy.
After the war ended in 1945 he studied natural sciences at Charles University in Prague. Since 1949 - teacher of mathematics and physics. Since January 1950 - Assistant Faculty of Geodesic Astronomy, Czech Technical University in Prague.
At the beginning of his scientific career at the Astronomical Institute at the observatory Ondrzhey studied the meteor showers . In 1949-1959 he published about 14 research papers and two monographs.
Later he became interested in the problems of hard-to-reach double stars and the ultraviolet spectrum of stars.
He was a teacher of astronomy at the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Charles University. Popularizer of astronomy.
In 1969 he emigrated to Canada, then to the USA, where he gained worldwide fame and became a professor of astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles . He taught for more than 30 years at the University of Los Angeles.
In 2001, the Czech Astronomical Society was awarded the Nušlov Prize .
Founded one of three groups in the world that deal with mass exchange issues in binary systems.
Miroslav Plavets was an honorary member of the Czech Astronomical Society and an honorary member of the Czech Scientific Society.
An asteroid (6076), the Swimmer, was named in his honor.
Links
- Mirek Plavec (Czech)