Janusz Gil

Janusz Gil was born in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, in 1951. After schooling in Bielsko-Biala he studied Mathematics and Physics at the Higher Pedagogical High School in Rzeszów, Poland. On completing his Master degree he transferred to the Physics Department in the Warsaw Univeristy. He obtained the Doctoral degree in 1983 and moved first to NRAO for postdoctoral studies. Janusz Gil, who dedicated his research life to the study of pulsar emission, moved from NRAO to the physics and astronomy department of the University of Kentucky.

In 1988 he obtained the qualification 'habilitation' from the Warsaw University, a pre-requisite for the university teaching career. This teaching position came in the newly established Higher Pedagogical School in Zielona Góra (since 2001 University Zielona Góra). Janusz Gil used all his energy to build up the institute of astronomy to a significant centre of astronomy in Poland. Prof. Gil attracted researchers from many countries to work in Zielona Góra. He also encouraged his staff members and students to use major observational facilities (e.g Effelsberg radio telescope, GMRT in Pune, India). This was the major contribution of Janusz Gil: to build up an astronomy department at a new regional university. He continued to develop contacts to other institutions in the world: obtaining a von Humboldt Stipendium to Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn; study visits at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. His papers center on pulsar studies, in particular the search for a real pulsar emission mechanism.

Janusz Gil died 19 October 2014 in Wilkanowo near Zielona Góra. He leaves an active major astrophysics institute in Poland.