Artur Rutkowski

I was born and raised in Białystok (capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland). From around the age of fifteen I have been fascinated by questions regarding stars, planets and the Universe. At that time, however, astronomy seemed to me to be so fairylike that I didn't realize that I could someday be a professional astronomer. So I decided to be a carpenter, making household furniture. I always liked this profession, and my surroundings also accepted it as a very practical and wise choice. But my curiosity didn't vanish, and after few unforgettable years in high school, I knew what I wanted to do after graduation.

I chose Kraków as my new place of study. I was joined into the Jagiellonian University and started studying astronomy, hoping to find the answers to all my astronomical questions. There I discovered how fascinating astronomy can be. I met Dr. W. Waniak, an expert in observational astrophysics. His patient explanations opened my eyes to many problems of modern astronomy. Under his supervision I wrote my MSc thesis on speckle interferometry.

After graduation, I decided to apply for PhD studies at the N. Copernicus Astronomical Center in Warsaw. For more than two years I worked with Prof. J. Mikołajewska on symbiotic stars and low-mass X-binaries. After that episode, I found Prof. J. Smak as my new mentor and started work on cataclysmic variables. This prominent scientist showed me the real value of science and the importance of mutual respect. However, I spent most of my time with Dr. A. Olech who, step by step, introduced me to successive problems in dwarf novae. His was also the official supervisor of my PhD thesis. I defended my thesis and obtained my degree on Sep. 25, 2009.

Assistant professor at Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University;
email: rudy(at)camk.edu.pl

Scientific interests: