Poland’s most famous astronomer, known for his talent for discovering planetoids, is the latest to be accused of cooperating with the SB, the communist-era secret police.

An analysis of the Institute of National Remembrance’s (IPN) archives infers that Professor Aleksander Wolszczan may have been a secret operative cooperating with the communist spy network, working under the code name “Lange”. The records under investigation include lists of participants in various scientific conferences - both in Poland an abroad) - lesson plans, and scholarship reports.

The astronomer is quoted on TVN 24 as saying: “It is true that, at the beginning of the 1970s, when I started to travel abroad, I unintentionally agreed contact with the SB, because I had no idea what that meant then.”

Wolszczan, in a written statement, claims that, when asked by the SB about certain people, he said little, spoke generally, or said nothing at all.

He claims that his contacts with the SB ceased during the Solidarity movement years in the 1980s, and then he left the country for ten years. “During the time of Solidarity, they asked me about people who were active in the movement and I said that I will not talk about that topic because it would hurt colleagues. That was the last time I saw that SB man, or anyone from the secret services.”