Thomas Zebrowski

Thomas Zebrowski, in Lithuanian Tomas Žebrauskas and in Polish Tomasz Żebrowski, was a Lithuanian Jesuit architect, mathematician and astronomer, born on 24 November 1714 in Samogitia and dead on 18 March 1758 in Vilnius. He was instrumental in establishing and funding the Observatory of Vilnius University, and Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt was among his students. At the age of eighteen he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Vilnius and then studied philosophy and theology at Vilnius University, achieving a doctorate. After studying at Charles University in Prague under Joseph Stepling from 1750 to 1752, he returned to Vilnius on 25 September 1752 and became a popular lecturer of physics and astronomy at the university. He was also interested in geodesy, horology, mineralogy and geography, but his major passion was astronomy, and he sought funding for an observatory, the construction of which was funded by Elżbieta Ogińska.