His home country of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would cease to exist just a few months later after the partitions by the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire.

At sixteen years old in 1811 Sławinski was already a student of the physics-mathematics department of Vilnius University, studying mathematics and philosophy.

[1] In 1815 Sławinski defended his master's degree,[2] and was appointed as a student assistant of the Vilnius University Astronomical Observatory.

[2] In August 1819, Sławinski was sent to an internship abroad to get acquainted with new observational methods and order needed appliances for the observatory back home.

In his journey, Sławinski visited observatories in Königsberg, Berlin, Gotha, Göttingen, Bremen, and finally, London.

[1] He also ordered a parallax mount made by Dollond and Co. After sending these instruments back to Vilnius, Sławinski traveled to Paris in August 1820[1] to listen to Jean-Baptiste Biot's lectures.

Sławinski's students enjoyed him for his gentleman-like, elegant appearance and engaging explanation of natural phenomena.

Sławinski's first scientific works, which were conducted in 1825–1832, were related to triangulation and the calculation of Earth's meridian arc, headed by famous geodesist and military general Carl Friedrich Tenner.

[5] Shortly after writing a textbook on the theoretical and practical rudiments of astronomy (Początki Astronomii Teoretyczney i Praktyczney) in 1826,[4] Sławinski became a university professor.

[2] Collaborating with Michał Hłuszniewicz in 1838–1843,[4] Sławinski also continued the tradition of publishing calendars intended to popularize science, which was started during the directorship of Marcin Odlanicki Poczobutt.

That same year, Sławinski promptly resigned from his position as director; it is believed that the aforementioned confiscation of books was the real reason he retired.