Krzysztof M. Serkowski papers
Collection dates: 1970 to 1982
Includes personal data and biographical information including a dictated early life history by Serkowski and biography/obituary by Tom Gehrels. One unpublished essay by Serkowski and correspondence with Serkowski's colleagues and publishers after his death. Eight notebooks filled with data, notes, observation logs, figures and other professional work.
Krzysztof M. Serkowski, Research Professor in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Astronomer at the Steward Observatory, was born in Warsaw, Poland, on December 8, 1930. In high school he built his first telescope, grinding the lenses and constructing the parts. In 1949, still in high school, he was awarded the first prize in a competition for observers of long-period variable stars sponsored by the Polish Amateur Astronomical Society. During the next year he worked for that society as an instructor for making amateur telescopes. As an undergraduate student he wrote the popular books “Astronomical Instruments” and “Stellar Evolution,” both in Polish. Serkowski studied physics and astronomy during the years 1949-1954, first at Warsaw University and then at Wroclaw University where he received a Master’s degree in 1954. In 1958, Warsaw University awarded Serkowski the Candidates degree (equivalent to Ph.D.) on the basis of his thesis “Statistical Analysis of the Polarization and Reddening of the Double Cluster in Perseus.”
During the years 1959-61 Serkowski worked at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he observed photoelectrically the brightness of the planets Uranus and Neptune compared to F and G type stars for the purpose of detecting changes in the solar energy output. He also made three-color photometry and a long series of photoelectric polarimetry of stars in open clusters.
In 1961 he returned to Poland according to an agreement made with their colleagues previously. In 1962, Warsaw University conferred on Serkowski the scientific degree of Docent, which is comparable to D.Sc. In 1963 he was appointed Permanent Docent of Warsaw University, a position equivalent to that of Assistant Professor. The Faculty of the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Warsaw University elected him as Deputy Dean of the Department for the academic year 1964-65. As such he acted as counselor for 1500 students. As Docent he lectured in Observational Astrophysics and Mathematical Statistics and Numerical Analysis for astronomy students at Warsaw University during the years 1962-1965 and he supervised the research work of graduate students at Warsaw’s University Observatory. Serkowski designed a grating spectograph for the 91-cm telescope of Torun Observatory and he designed the electronics and optics for a two-channel polarimeter. He used the latter instrument for measuring polarization 78 of magnetic stars and studying the changes in polarization of eclipsing binary B Lyrae during the years 1963-65 at the Haute-Provence Observatory in France and at Torur’i Observatory. His observations of stellar circular polarization had as detection limit 0.0270, a value 10 times better than previous precisions. In 1963 he worked on multi-color photometry of clusters of galaxies with the 135cm Schmidt telescope of the Tautenburg Observatory in East Germany. In 1965, after the plans for building a new central observatory in Poland were rejected, Serkowski decided to leave Poland permanently. From August 1965 to September 1966 he worked again at the Lowell Observatory. In August 1965, at the Colloquium on Interstellar Grains in Troy, New York, he presented results obtained with his two-channel polarimeter, indicating the correlation between the regional variations in the wavelength dependences of interstellar extinction and polarization.
From October 1966 until March 1970 the Serkowski’s were in Australia where Krzysztof worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Mount Stromlo Observatory of the Australian National University. He put into operation at Siding Spring Observatory the new 6 I -cm qolarimetric telescope with rotatable tube, designed by W.A. Hiltner, and he wrote computer programs for reducing various types of polarimetric observations. Serkowski, together with D.S. Mathewson. designed a multi-channel polarimeter for measurements of stellar polarization in the UBVRI spectral regions, using dichroic filters. The Serkowskis become Australian citizens 1970. During his stay in Australia Krzysztof found changes of polarization with time for T Tauri stars and, together with A. Kruszewski, for the R Coronae Borealis star RY Sagitarii. On the basis of Serkowski’s work on polarization of starlight he applied for and was granted by the Australian National University the degree of Doctor of Science, in 1970.
Serkowski had been at the University of Arizona in Tucson since April 1970, first as an Associate Professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and, since 1979, as a Research Professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Astronomer at the Steward Observatory. In 1976 he became a U.S. citizen. He continued his observations and interpretations of the interstellar and intrinsic polarization of starlight. He established what we refer to as the “Serkowski law” which describes the uniform wavelength dependence of interstellar polarization, p/p max = exp [- 1.15 ln*(Xmax/h)], previously believed to be different for different stars. Serkowski also discovered circular polarization for several infrared objects. He devoted, however, most of his efforts to optimizing designs of astronomical instrumentation. The “Minipol” polarimeter of the University of Arizona, used by many, was greatly improved by him such that it probably is one of the most efficient polarimeters in existence. Serkowski’s greatest instrumental challenge was to develop a method of measuring stellar radial velocities precise enough to detect the reflex motion of stars due to orbiting planets. For a system as that of the Sun and Jupiter a precision of + 12 m/set is necessary.
In 1973, Serkowski was diagnosed with amyoptrophic lateral sclerosis and passed away on October 7th, 1981 in Tucson, Arizona. Serkowski married Krystyna Romaniuk in 1957 and has two sons Tomasz Krzysztof and Jan Andrzej.
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