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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8

Poland's mathematical standing in Eastern Europe should profit soon from the establishment of a new international mathematical training center for advanced training of scientific personnel. The new Stefan Bantach Center is to begin work in 1973 with its seat at the Institute of Mathematics of the PAN, Warsaw. With this center, the academies of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Soviet Union will contribute to tasks established in the CEMA problem, and the center will also conduct common research and promote exchange of information.

c. Astrogeophysical sciences

(1) Astronomy and space sciences—Theoretical, primarily stellar, astronomy in Poland is of high quality. One of the greatest strengths is in the classical fields of theoretical and observational astronomy. The Poles are noted for their work on eclipsing binaries and stellar evolution. Optical observational astronomy is limited by the climate and by the general inadequacy of equipment. Considerable astronomical scientific exchange occurs between Poland and the West, particularly France and the United States.

The Warsaw Astronomical Center for theoretical astronomy is a joint effort of the Institute of Astronomy, Warsaw, of PAN, and of the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw. Other principal astronomical observatories in Poland are located at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, recognized center for the study of eclipsing binaries; the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, the Nicholas Copernicus University, Torun; and the University of Wroclaw. The observatory at Poznan operates a latitude station for PAN at Borowiec, important for its cooperative program, and a similar station at Irkutsk, U.S.S.R., located 90° to the east on the same parallel. The observatory at Torun is the recognized center for observational astronomy in Poland and was to have been equipped with a 2-m reflector. This project, however, was canceled in December 1969 after the mirror blank had been cast by the Zeiss Jena Company of East Germany. It is also the principal center for radio astronomy and is equipped with several interferometers, primarily for solar observing. An array for long baseline interferometry is under construction. An average-size 60-cm optical reflector is being constructed by Zeiss Jena for installation in 1973 at Grojec, near Warsaw, and efforts are underway to improve the present inadequate computer facilities that are available to Polish astronomers.

Polish astronomical research has continued to emphasize the study of binaries and stellar evolution. Other activity has been primarily solar research, although some lunar, meteor, and cometary astronomical studies have been made. Some space biological and space medical research has been conducted, but generally space research, coordinated by the Committee on Investigation and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, PAN, is limited principally to ground-based activities. Polish space activity is limited primarily to satellite tracking, and an optical tracking network provides data for the computation of satellite ephemerides and for utilization in geodetic research. Certain stations in the network participate in the Soviet-sponsored INTEROBS and in the French-coordinated EUROBS programs for the study of upper atmospheric density. Besides developing the Meteor series rockets, Poland has designed and produced equipment for use in Soviet-launched geophysical vertical probes. This equipment consists of X-ray spectroheliographs and a system of X-ray pinhole cameras. Poland also participated with other Communist Bloc countries and the U.S.S.R. in designing the scientific payload for Interkosmos 6. This payload consisted of emulsion plates to register very high energy cosmic rays and was returned to earth after 4 days for analysis of the data.

The Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow, has made very high-energy cosmic ray observations from balloons. In 1971 the Institute was collaborating with Moscow State University in preparing a similar experiment to be satellite-borne. PAN's Institute of Geophysics, at Warsaw, has a cosmic ray observatory at Belsk Duzy. Recent observational research in Poland has emphasized the study of the characteristics of and problems involved in the observation of cosmic ray air shower. The Industrial Telecommunications Institute, Warsaw, has had an ionospheric sounding station: only a small amount of ground-based ionospheric research is conducted in Poland.

(2) Meteorology—The Poles have an active meteorological research program of good quality. The program is broad in scope, including actinometry, aerology, atmospheric chemistry and diffusion, cloud physics, and synoptic meteorology. The Institute for Hydrometeorology and Water Economy, created in March 1973 within the Ministry of Agriculture, controls the national weather service—formerly the autonomous State Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology—which conducts much of the research, but some work is done in the universities and by PAN's Institute of Geophysics at Warsaw. Outstanding work in atmospheric electricity has been done in Poland.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070028-8