On 13 March 2023, an exhibition devoted to the life of Nicolaus Copernicus organised by the Polish diaspora in Canada to honour the great astronomer and his impact on the world was opened in the JU Collegium Novum.
The event was opened by JU Rector Prof. Jacek Popiel and Jerzy Barycki, social activist and documentarian working to promote Poland in Canada and Canada in Poland, president of the Polish-Canadian Business and Professional Association of Windsor. The opening was attended by JU Vice-Rectors Prof. Jarosław Górniak, Prof. Piotr Kuśtrowski and Prof. Armen Edigarian, President of the University Council Prof. Jacek Purchla.
The display is an homage from the Polish diaspora in Canada to Nicolaus Copernicus on the 550th anniversary of his birth and 480th anniversary of his death). It aims to popularise the biography of the great astronomer, whose life is well-known in Poland, but not so well recognised in Canada.
Information and pictures featured on the exhibition posters allow visitors to learn more about the astronomer’s childhood and youth in Toruń, studies in Kraków and Padua, and later life and work in Poland: in Frombork, Lidzbark Warmiński and Olsztyn. The exhibition presents details related to Copernicus’ public activities, his early publications and his greatest discovery.
The exhibition was first displayed on 21 February in the Polish Senate in Warsaw. Later, it was moved to the Warsaw School of Technology. The Jagiellonian University will first display it in Collegium Novum, and after that, in Auditorium Maximum.
