Jirí Grygar
Encyclopedia
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and popularizer of science. Dr. Grygar is a Kalinga Prize
Kalinga Prize
The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in presenting scientific ideas to lay people...
(1996) laureate. For his significant impact on the development of the Czech science, he is informally called the 'Czech Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
'.
Career
After studying physics at the Masaryk UniversityMasaryk University
Masaryk University is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the third Czech university , it now consists of nine faculties and 42,182 students...
in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
and astronomy at the Charles University in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
he joined the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The Academy is the leading non-university public research institution in the Czech Republic...
, Department of Stellar Astronomy in Ondřejov
Ondrejov Observatory
The Ondřejov Observatory is the principal observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It is located near the village of Ondřejov, 35 km southeast of Prague....
. Twenty years later he moved to the Institute of Physics, Low Temperature Physics Department at Řež
Rez
Rez, developed under the codename K-Project, Project Eden, and Vibes, is a rail shooter video game released by Sega in Japan in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, with a European Dreamcast release and United States PlayStation 2 release in 2002...
, where he remained for more than ten years. Shortly after the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
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
Ceská televize
Česká televize is the public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting four channels.- Czechoslovak Television :Television in Czechoslovakia started to take its first steps before World War II. However, before visible results could be achieved, all activities were interrupted by...
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.
Dr. Grygar holds a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
. His papers focus on interplanetary matter (meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s, comets), limb darkening
Limb darkening
Limb darkening refers to the diminishing of intensity in the image of a star as one moves from the center of the image to the edge or "limb" of the image...
in stellar atmosphere
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. It is divided into several regions of distinct character:...
s, close binaries, nova
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
e, chemically peculiar stars and remote sensing
Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
.
Between 2004–2008, dr. Grygar was the President of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, an association of the leading scholars in the country.
Public Appearances
He is well known to the public in the Czech Republic and SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
because of his famous TV series about the Universe - Okná vesmíru dokorán ("Wide open windows of the Universe"; 1982–1990). He also engages in activities against un-scientific charlatan
Charlatan
A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception....
ism (in the Sisyfos Club of Skeptics).
Dr. Grygar is a reputable writer on the topic of the relationship between religion and science
Relationship between religion and science
The relationship between religion and science has been a focus of the demarcation problem. Somewhat related is the claim that science and religion may pursue knowledge using different methodologies. Whereas the scientific method basically relies on reason and empiricism, religion also seeks to...
. He is of catholic faith.
Honors
On October 26, 1976, a main-belt asteroid 33363336 Grygar
3336 Grygar is a main-belt asteroid discovered on October 26, 1971 by Kohoutek, L. at Bergedorf.- External links :*...
was discovered by a Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek
Luboš Kohoutek
Luboš Kohoutek is a Czech astronomer.Kohoutek has been interested with astronomy since high school. He studied physics and astronomy at universities in Brno and Prague...
, 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 .
Dr. Grygar is a recipient of a number of other awards.