Endawoke on Scientific Mission: Day 2 (19 August 2019) in Olsztyn, Poland

As expected, I did not have good sleep, woke up in the middle of night. I'd to prepare and got myself ready to walk to the conference venue which is at the University ---, which is five minute walk from our hotel. The opening ceremony is a bit fancy with different dignitaries, including the mayor (the call him president) of Olsztyn and rector of the university.

This where we'll be hiding for the next one week!

The opening ceremony also include Polish cultural dance by the university's band. Other than the fancy opening ceremony, we're back to formal work.

Dancing band entertainment at the opening ceremony

Olsztyn (OL-shtin) is a city on the Łyna River in northeastern Poland. Olsztyn is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 172,362 residents in 2018. Since 1999 Olsztyn has been the capital city of the Warmia-Masuria. In the same year, the University of Warmia and Masuria was founded from the fusion of three other local universities. Today, the Castle of Warmian Bishops houses a museum and is a venue for concerts, art exhibitions, film shows and other cultural events, which make Olsztyn a popular tourist destination.

The University of Warmia and Mazury (UWM) in Olsztyn was established on 1 September 1999, on an agreement between the academic senates of three institutions of higher learning already established in the city: the Academy of Agriculture and Technology, the Pedagogical Institute, and the Warmia Institute of Theology. The Faculty of Theology was established with an agreement between Polish Episcopate (Bishop) and the government. The university's first academic year started in October 1999.

This reminds me the university where I started my academic career as a young faculty member, The Bahir Dar University (BDU) in Ethiopia. Like UWM, BDU was also established in 1999 by merging two higher learning institutes (Polytechnic Institute and the Pedagogical Institute also known by teachers training college) already established in the city. Currently, while UWM has 16 faculties, 3035 admin staff, 43000 students, 3000 postgraduate students, and 350 PhD students, the BDU has ----. BDU world ranking is 3123 but that of UWM is 1231.

With Nicolaus Copernicus statue, located at the main gate of the castle.

Another new thing that I learned at the opening ceremony was from the Mayor's opening remarks. Knowing we're space scientists from different part of the world, he pointed out the connection between his city and the famous astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543). He said, Copernicus resided at Olsztyn (Allenstein) Castle during 1516–21, served as economic administrator of Warmia, including Olsztyn(Allenstein) and Pieniężno (Mehlsack). While there, he wrote a manuscript, Locationes mansorum desertorum (Locations of Deserted Fiefs), with a view to populating those fiefs with industrious farmers and so bolstering the economy of Warmia. When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish–Teutonic War, Copernicus directed the defense of Olsztyn and Warmia by Royal Polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations.

Copernicus original book

For some reason, the heliocentric idea was demonstrated by Galileo. I was wrong, it was actually by Copernicus. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the universe, independently confirming Aristarchus of Samos's formulation that was proposed some eighteen centuries earlier.

Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia, which is part of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466. He obtained a doctorate in canon law (set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (Church leadership). He was also a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. In 1517 he derived a quantity theory of money - a key concept in economics - and in 1519 he formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law.