Background
Grygar, Jiri was born on March 17, 1936 in Dziewietlice, Poland. Son of Josef and Hedvika (Stojanova) Grygar.
Astronomer popularizer of science
Grygar, Jiri was born on March 17, 1936 in Dziewietlice, Poland. Son of Josef and Hedvika (Stojanova) Grygar.
Bachelor of Science, Masaryk University, 1957. Master of Science, Charles University, 1959. Doctor of Philosophy in Astrophysics, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1963.
After studying physics at the Masaryk University in Brno and astronomy at the Charles University in Prague he joined the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Department of Stellar Astronomy in Ondřejov. Twenty years later he moved to the Institute of Physics, Low Temperature Physics Department at Řež, where he remained for more than ten years. Shortly after the Velvet Revolution he joined the High Energy Physics Department at the same institution.
From 1992 to 1998, Grygar chaired the Czechoslovakian Astronomical Society.
He also chaired the Czechoslovakian Television Council and the Science and Philosophy section of the European Culture Club. Doctor Grygar holds a Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics.
His papers focus on interplanetary matter (meteors, comets), limb darkening in stellar atmospheres, close binaries, novae, chemically peculiar stars and remote sensing. Between 2004–2008, doctor
Grygar was the President of the Learned Society of the Czechoslovakian Republic, an association of the leading scholars in the country.
He is well known to the public in the Czechoslovakian Republic and Slovakia because of his famous television series about the Universe - Okna vesmíru dokořán ("Wide open windows of the Universe". 1982–1990). He also engages in activities against un-scientific charlatanism (in the Sisyfos Club of Skeptics). Doctor Grygar is a reputable writer on the topic of the relationship between religion and science.
He is of catholic faith.
On October 26, 1976, a main-belt asteroid 3336 was discovered by a Czechoslovakian astronomer Luboš Kohoutek, who named it after Doctor Doctor
Member Czech Astronomical Society (chairman 1992-1998), International Astronomical Union, Czech Learned Society, European Astronomical Society.
Married Libuse Kalasova, September 17, 1981. Children: Helena, Vi't, Lukas.