PAVEL KROUPA
Life's stations
Research Interests:
Dynamical properties of stellar systems (IMF, multiplicity), evolution
of young multiple stellar systems in birth aggregates, star formation,
dynamical evolution of open and globular clusters, spatial and
kinematical distribution of stars, origin of field stars, structure
and mass of the Galaxy, galactic dynamics, formation and evolution of
dwarf satellite galaxies, dark matter content of galaxies.
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Synopsis:
I was born in southern Bohemia half way between Prague and Vienna and
my father fled from the country with me in 1968 on the first night of
the invasion by the Warsaw Pact. We lived, each time for five years,
in Germany, South Africa, Germany and Australia. I studied physics
and mathematics at The University of Western Australia in Perth and
moved to Cambridge in the UK in 1988 where I obtained my PhD degree
in 1992 at Trinity College as an Isaac Newton Scholar. My first
post-doctoral position I took up in Heidelberg until 2000 when I
moved to Kiel in northern Germany for my first teaching
position. After winning a Heisenberg Fellowship there I accepted a
professorship offer form the University of Bonn where I am since
2004. In 2017 I was named "professorem hospitem" by the rector of
Charles University in Prague, where I now spend much of my time and
am also supervising a few PhD students. I obtained three offers for
professorships (UF in Gainesville, Cardiff and Bonn). In terms of
prizes and awards I obtained an Isaac Newton Studentship (Trinity
College, Cambridge), a Senior Rouse Ball Research Studentship
(Trinity College, Cambridge), a Heisenberg Fellowship (Germany), a
Smithsonian Short Term Visiting Position (Cambridge, USA), a
Swinburne Visiting Professorship (Melbourne, Australia), a Leverhulme
Trust Visiting Professorship (Sheffield, UK), an INNOLEC Lectureship
in Theoretical Physics (Masaryk University, Brno) and have been a
Science Visitor at ESO in Garching and Santiago many times. I have
also been awarded the Silver Commemorative Medal of the Senate of the
Czech Republic in Prague and the Crystal Rose by the citizens of my
town of birth, Jindrichuv Hradec.
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Background:
My family fled when Prague Spring failed in 1968, and I lived in each
of the following places (my parents remain in Perth): West Germany,
Kassel (1968-72)-South Africa, Pretoria (1972-77)-West Germany,
Goettingen (1977-83)-Australia, Perth (1983-88)-England, Cambridge
(1988-92)-Germany, Heidelberg (1992-2000), Kiel (2000-2004), Professor
in Bonn (since 2004).
I attended the Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium, Goettingen , from 1977 to
1983, and prior to that the then boy's
Christian
Brother's Catholic School in Pretoria.
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University Education and Employment:
- 1984: Commencement of my physics studies at The
University of
- Western Australia
, Perth.
- 1986/87: Summer-vacation
scholarship at Mt. Stromlo Observatory,
- Australian National
University, Canberra.
- 1987: Graduation with first class BSc honours
degree.
- Research assistant for five months
at The University of Western Australia.
- 1988: Award of Isaac Newton Studentship
by the University of Cambridge, England.
- Selected for membership by Trinity College.
- October: Commencement of my studies towards a PhD degree in
astrophysics at the
- Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.
Supervisor: Dr. G. Gilmore.
- 1991: January-March: Visiting Research Fellow
for two months at the
- University of California, Santa Cruz.
- October: Award of Senior Rouse Ball Research Studentship
by Trinity College, Cambridge.
- 1992: May: Successful defence of my PhD thesis at
the University of Cambridge on
- The distribution of low-mass
stars in the Galactic disk.
- June: Commencement of a 5-year
research appointment at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut,
Heidelberg, to work on galactic dynamics.
- 1997: June: Move to the Institut fuer Theoretische
Astrophysik,
- University of Heidelberg, to work on young
star clusters.
- October'97-February'98: Lecture course at the University of
Heidelberg on
- The Dynamical Properties of Stellar Systems.
- 1999: March-July: Smithsonian Institution Short-Term
Visitor at the
- Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics,
Cambridge, MA.
- Collaborator: Dr. C.J. Lada.
1999/2000: Nov.-Jan: Max-Planck-Institut fuer
Astronomie for collaboration with Andreas Burkert on binaries
in young clusters; thereafter at the Institut fuer Theoretische
Astrophysik.
2000: Feb.-June: Institut fuer Theoretische
Astrophysik, University of Heidelberg.
2000: July.-Sept: Max-Planck-Institut fuer
Astronomie for collaboration with Andreas Burkert on binaries
in young clusters.
2000: Nov.: Move to the Institut fuer Theoretische
Physik und Astrophysik,
University of Kiel.
2002: May: Habilitation on the topic Binary
Systems, Star Clusters and the
Galactic-Field Population. Mentor: Prof. Dr. Herhard Hensler.
2002: Nov.: Award of a 5-year Heisenberg Fellowship
by the DFG.
2003: May: Start of Heisenberg Fellowship.
2004: April: Appointment as professor at the Sternwarte der
Universitaet Bonn (since January 2006 a Division of the
Argelander-Institut fuer Astronomie, Universitaet Bonn).
2006: 23.02.-23.03.: ESO Senior Visitor, ESO,
Santiago, Chile
2007: March: Swinburne Visiting Professor at the
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.
2007: July-Sept.: Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor
at the University of Sheffield, UK.
2008: July-Sept.: Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor
at the University of Sheffield, UK.
2010: 26.07.-26.08.: ESO Visitor, ESO,
Headquarters, Garching
2012: (October) Elected as Managing Director of the
Argelander Institute for Astronomy, University of Bonn (for the term
of one academic year)
2013: (1st of August, Prague) Award of a Silver Commemorative
Medal of the Senate of the Czech Republic (for significant
contributions to astrophysics and for advancing the good reputation of the
Czech Republic).
2013: (1st of October) Transferred to the (dark-matter-free) HISKP at Bonn University
2014: (March-April) Guestprofessor at the Institute for
Astrophysics , University of Vienna. Lectures on The
Physics of Dense Stellar Systems.
2015: (21.11.-21.12.) Visiting professor at the Astronomical
Institute of the Charles University in Prague .
Overview of my lectures.
My seminar on 2.12.: The
Implications of Astronomical Data on the True Nature of
Gravitation
2016: 1.07.-01.08.: ESO Visitor, ESO,
Garching, Germany
2016: (1st of August) took up an affiliation with the
Astronomical Institute , at Charles University in Prague.
2017: (3rd of May) named professorem hospitem by the Rector of Charles
University in Prague.
2017: 1.09.-15.10.: ESO Visitor, ESO,
Garching, Germany
2017: (November) award of INNOLEC Lectureship in Theoretical
Physics by the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno.
2018: Nov.: ESO Visitor, Santiago, Chile
2019: June-August: ESO Visitor, Garching, Germany
2019: 25th October:
Award of the Crystal Rose , in
my birth town,
Jindrichuv Hradec.
2021: 9th April:
Golden Webinar in Astrophysics , on the
non-existence of dark matter.
2021: 21st Oct.:
Quid Ultra? lecture , on the origin of
super-massive black holes.
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