The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded researchers from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw (OAUW) with the Nicolaus Copernicus Award for a unique, three-dimensional map of the Milky Way under “The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment” (OGLE) project, presented in 2019 in the Science journal.

The project was developed by Dr Dorota Skowron, Dr Jan Skowron and Dr Przemysław Mróz from OAUW.

This map presents a precise picture of our galaxy and provides a lot of new information regarding the structure and history of our star system.

Scientific Award of Nicholas Copernicus has almost 150 years of tradition. Its origins date back to 1873, when on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Polish astronomer, the Krakow Commune established the Nicolaus Copernicus Award. In 1993, the awarding was resumed. Since 1995, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences has awarded scientists every five years for their achievements in astronomy, economy, classical philology, philosophy of nature, cosmology and astrophysics, mathematics, medicine, Earth sciences and law.