The Copernicus Foundation for Polish Astronomy () 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."Fundacja Astronomii Polskiej im. Mikołaja Kopernika", profile at the Polish Academy of Science website
The Copernicus foundation is headquartered in Warsaw, Poland and Prof. Michał Jaroszyński is the chairman of the organization."Data of organization no 0000091659", in KRS 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,Official "Acta Astronomica" website which is indexed in Science Citation Index financial support of the Astronomical Olympiad in PolandAstronomical Olympiad website support of annual Youth Astronomical Seminar of Poland (Ogólnopolskie Młodzieżowe Seminarium Astronomiczne)Sponsors of the Ogólnopolskie Młodzieżowe Seminarium Astronomiczne financial support of the conference of Use of Small Telescopes (Wykorzystanie małych teleskopów), Kraków-Koninki 2013."Conference website "Wykorzystanie małych teleskopów", Kraków-Koninki 2013 sponsor of the Software Systems for Astronomy - summer school (7-18 July 2014, Poznań, Poland)Sponsor page of the Software Systems for Astronomy - summer school (7-18 July 2014, Poznań, Poland)
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"Ach, cóż to był za błysk!" by Lech Mankiewicz (2012-06-13) (beginnings of the "Pi of the Sky" project).
See also List of astronomical societies
References