Antoni Przybylski


Antoni Przybylski,, sometimes referred to as "Bill", was a Polish-Australian astronomer best known as the namesake of Przybylski's Star.

Early life

In the 1930s, Przybylski attended the University of Poznan and worked as a research assistant at their observatory, where he studied comets. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he joined the Polish Army and served as an artillery officer during the defense of Warsaw, after which he was taken prisoner and interned in Mecklenburg. In 1941, he escaped, and made his way to Switzerland, where he spent the rest of the war as a student and instructor at ETH Zurich, eventually earning a master's degree in chemistry.

Australia

In 1950, Przybylski emigrated to Australia. There, he spent five months as a manual laborer before coming to the attention of Richard Woolley, who recruited him to work at Mount Stromlo Observatory. Woolley subsequently awarded him a scholarship, and then became his thesis supervisor; eventually, Przybylski received the first doctorate bestowed by ANU, for his thesis on the theory of stellar atmospheres.
In 1957, Woolley was replaced as director of Mount Stromlo by Bart Bok, who mandated that the observatory's theoreticians also participate in direct observation; this led directly to Przybylski's discovery that HD101065 is a peculiar star. Przybylski also was the first to "attempt fine analysis of a high dispersion spectrum of a star in the Magellanic Clouds".
After retiring from astronomy, Przybylski studied botany, zoology, and geology as a hobby.