International Day of Astronomy at NOESIS 18.5.2024

Saturday 18 May 2024
hours 17.30-19.00

On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Astronomy, NOESIS will give the following speeches:

“NOESIS”: Personal experience and evaluation through astronomy, contribution and history
Nikolaos K. Spyrou, retired Professor of Astrophysics

Astronomy and Space Exploration
Kleomenis Tsiganis, Professor of Astronomy and Mechanics (School of Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

During the event, Prof. t. N. Spyrou for his contribution to the design of NOESIS and his many years of contribution to the organization.

Short CVs
Kleomenis Tsiganis
Mr. Kleomenis Tsiganis was born in Larissa (1974), where he graduated from the 4th Lyceum. He received his BSc in Physics (1996) and his PhD (2002) from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), as a scholar of the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY). He worked as a postdoctoral researcher (Marie Curie fellowship of the EU) at the Observatoire de Nice (CNRS, France) and as a visiting researcher at the Southwest Research Institute (USA). In 2006 he was appointed Lecturer at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he now serves as Professor (2021-). He served as Director of the Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Secretary of the Hellenic Astronomical Society and Member of the Board of Directors of KDEMT “Noesis”. He is also a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the Institute of Celestial Mechanics (CMI).

His main research interests are Celestial Mechanics and its Applications in Space, Dynamic Astronomy and Planetary Science. He directs the corresponding research team of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with which he has participated in Horizon programs of the EU and the European Space Agency (ESA). He is responsible for the development of the network of Robotic Astronomical Stations of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Thermi, Holomontas, Cyprus) and the Optical Ground Station in Holomontas, co-financed by ESA, the EU, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Ministry of Culture (HellasQCI). He is also scientific co-director (co-PI) of the PeakSat satellite mission of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

He has authored more than 150 scientific publications with over 8,500 citations and has participated in more than 35 international conferences. He is Associate Editor of Celestial Mechanics & Dynamical Astronomy (Springer), Annales Geophysicae (EGU) and Serbian Astronomical Journal. Since 2015 he has been participating in the Scientific Team of the space missions DART (NASA) and Hera (ESA) for the implementation of the first, historically planetary defense experiment, chairing a relevant Working Group (WG3: Dynamics) of Hera. He participated in the expert panel of the European Science Foundation to define the European Research Roadmap in the field of Astrobiology (2016) and has been a trainer in two ESA Basic Astronaut Training Campaigns (2016 and 2023).

He has received significant distinctions for his work, including the renaming of an asteroid “(21775) Tsiganis” by the IAU (2008), the “George Fotinos” Astronomy Prize by the Academy of Athens (2013) and the “Paollo Farinella International Prize” by the European Conference on Planetary Sciences (2016).

Nikolaos K. Spyrou
Mr. Nikolaos K. Dr. Spyrou, Professor of Astronomy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), served as Director of the Astronomy Laboratory of the School of Physics/Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for more than a quarter of a century.

Since 1970, he has served the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from various scientific and administrative positions, but he also served the wider public sector on the basis of voluntary activity and contribution, national and international, and prosperously, he retired in 2011, after forty-one (41) years of academic activity.

Mr. Spyrou has extensive experience of self-reliant, invited and voluntary, multidisciplinary research, teaching, writing, publishing and social work and contribution in Greece and abroad.

Mr. Spyros’ research interests, usually in an intended overlap with his occasional teaching duties, fall within the thematic areas, mainly, Astrophysics, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Cosmology (with emphasis on Relativistic Astrophysics, Dynamics of Realistic Stellar Systems, Physical Properties of Black Holes, Alternative Theories of Gravity, Composition and Dynamics of the Universe) and, secondarily, History of Astronomy-Archaeoastronomy, Space and Space Technology, Space Environmental Physics, Science Education.

For five years (2005-2010), since the association of our country with the European Space Agency, Mr. Spyrou served as the National Representative of our country to it, with the objective, among others, of defining the national policy for Space and introducing our country and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki to the space age and space technology. as a precursor to the recently newly built Hellenic Space Agency.
Therefore, Mr. Spyrou has a fully formed and clearly expressed opinion on astronomical and space issues worldwide. This expressed opinion of Mr. Spyrou, as well as the numerology of his all kinds and multiple works are freely accessible on the Internet.

Mr. Spyrou, since the 1960s, when he was still an undergraduate student at the Department of Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, continues his unpaid collaboration with the Union of Greek Physicists, the Association of Friends of Astronomy of Thessaloniki (of which he is the first founding member), the Anatolia College, the Science Center and Technology Museum-NOESIS and many other educational and publishing institutions. with the objective of promoting the science of Astronomy, systematically persecuted in our country and long ago ostracized from our schools.

In June 2017, the Union of Greek Physicists, in the framework of an honorary event, awarded Mr. Spyrou, in recognition of his many years of scientific-research, teaching and social contribution to the Union of Greek Physicists, Physics, Astronomy and Education in general.

Finally, in April 2024, on the occasion of eighty years of research, teaching and social contribution of Professor Nicholas C. Spyrou, the Union of Greek Physicists, the International Hellenic University, the Fulbright Scholars Association of Northern Greece, the Association of Friends of Astronomy and the Science Center and Technology Museum – NOESIS organized an honorary event dedicated to his contemporary writing activity.