Marcel S. Pawlowski

@8minutesold.bsky.social

Astrophysicist studying cosmic choreographies of dwarf galaxies. DIAS Professor in Physics at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). Street Photographer (he/him). Autor des Buchs „Von tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie, und anderen kosmischen Rätseln“

Kind of ironic that I got this invitation on the very day I started my professorship in Denmark. After spending the past 8 years in Germany without getting a stable long-term career perspective in academia there. 🧪

Screenshot of an email inviting me to boost my career in Germany by attending an online conference and career fair aimed at attracting researcher so to the country.

Last days at AIP, and I am getting feeling that they can't wait for me to leave. The name on my office door got replaced days ago already, and yesterday someone walked in while I had an online meeting and wanted to move the office furniture. 😅

I'll visit the University of Bonn next week, where I did my PhD. My grant pays for the trip, but they asked me to provide information on me, a copy of my passport, my CV+publications, asked how I'm financed, and had me sign an eight-page agreement for my visit … all just to say hi for a few days. 🙄

After just 15 hours at home*, I’m off again at sunrise, to #EAS2026Lausanne. Giving a talk this evening in SS2 (not sure how awake I’ll be for that though). * I was supposed to be home for 12h more, but the 4.5h flight back from the CLUES Meeting on Tenerife turned into a bit of an Odyssey:

Photo of the sun rising over a field in Brandenburg, taken from a train with tracks in the foreground.

Potsdam success story 1. Kid frequently bullied and hurt at school. 2. School vicim-blames, doesn't seem inlined to do much about it. 3. Sign kid up for self-defense class to build resilience. 4. Martial arts school closes because owner arrested for humiliating, insulting, abusing, assaulting others

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that a big factor why modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is less popular than the cold dark matter LCDM model is less a matter of differences in scientific successes, but a relative deficit in politically savviness in the MOND community. 🔭🧪

Für alle in Potsdam oder Berlin, die gerne mehr über Dunkle Materie, Tanzende Galaxien, oder meine Forschung erfahren möchten: kommt diesen Donnerstag zu meinem öffentlichen Vortrag auf dem Campus des @aippotsdam.bsky.social in Potsdam Babelsberg. 💃🌌🕺 Eintritt frei, eine Anmeldung nötig. 🧪🔭

Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)@aippotsdam.bsky.social · 5mo ago

„Tanzende Galaxien, Dunkle Materie und andere kosmische Rätsel“ 🌌🪩😀 #BabelsbergerSternennächte am Do., 16.4.2026 um 19:15 Uhr mit Dr. Marcel Pawlowski @8minutesold.bsky.social www.aip.de/de/news/live...

Dear journals/editors, if you invite me to review a manuscript on Saturday morning and then send a pushy reminder less than 48 hours later on Monday morning at 7am, I am not strongly inclined to accept your request to provide my free labor in support of your for-profit publisher. 🧪

Orbán conceded; fantastic news for Hungary and the EU. Not just a loss for him, but also for all the corrosive right-wingers of various countries who supported him. Let’s get Europe back to acting as a united union, and hope Hungary’s research and university system recovers from the damages.

So shocking and awful. Just a few months ago I had some wonderful conversations with Carl at a conference. He was always such a pleasure to interact with due to his intellect, humor, and openness to ideas and scientific challenges. What a loss. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Renowned scientist who studied distant planets fatally shot at his home near LA

Authorities suspect Carl Grillmair was shot by man arrested for carjacking, as friends mourn him as ‘irreplaceable’

theguardian.com

Last year I was invited to speak at the "Nicolaus-Copernicus-Symposium" in Nuremberg about limits of modern astronomy and dark matter. 🔭🧪 A recording of the talk is now available (with almost 30k views already, and there's a version dubbed in English, apparently): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMt_...

Dunkle Materie oder modifizierte Gravitation • Grenzen moderner Astronomie | Marcel Pawlowski

YouTube video by Urknall, Weltall und das Leben

youtube.com