Czech Science Professor Zdenek Kopal (1914-1993) - from Litomysl to NASA
Last week the Moravian town of Litomysl celebrated the 90th anniversary of the birth of one of its great natives, world-renowned astronomer Zdenek Kopal. Zdenek Kopal left Czechoslovakia in 1938, after finishing his university studies. Later he studied at Cambridge and Harvard Universities. For thirty years Zdenek Kopal lectured astronomy in Manchester, England. One of the main areas of his interest were binary stars but Professor Zdenek Kopal is perhaps best known for his participation in NASA's Moon landing project. In an earlier Czech Science programme the head of the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Jan Palous, spoke about Professor Zdenek Kopal's contribution to the US Apollo project.
Zdenek Kopal preparing for the solar eclipse in Japan 1936, photo: www.litomysl.cz
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