DECEMBER 2013 - TOPICS

Short News One-day meeting in memory of John Hadjidemetriou Obituary: Dimitri Mihalas Job openings at NOA Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. SHORT NEWS.

We would like to congratulate Prof. Andreas Zezas (Univ. of Crete) for his successful European Research Council (ERC) proposal entitled "Accreting binary populations in nearby galaxies: Observations and simulations". This highly selective prize, the first awarded to an astrophysicist in Greece, will fund the activities of his group for the next five years with the amount of 1.242.000 Euros. We would like to congratulate Dr. Christina Plainaki, a young research scientist at INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy and a member of our Society, who has been awarded the Outstanding Young Scientists Award of the Planetary and Solar System Sciences Division of the European Geosciences Union. She will receive her prize at the EGU 2014 General Assembly, which will take place in Vienna during 27 April – 02 May 2014.

2. ONE -DAY MEETING IN MEMORY OF JOHN HADJIDEMETRIOU

The Section of Astrophysics, Astronomy, and Mechanics of the Physics Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is organizing an one-day meeting in memory of John D. Hadjidemetriou, who passed away last March. The meeting will take place on December 6, in the lecture hall of the main library of the Aristotle University. For more information, please contact Prof. H. Varvoglis at varvogli@physics.auth.gr.

3. OBITUARY: DIMITRI MIHALAS (1939-2013)

World-renowned astrophysicist Dimitri Mihalas passed away on November 21, 2013 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US. He was an American astrophysicist of Greek origin. He was born on March 20, 1939 in Los Angeles, California where he grew up. He received his B. A., with Highest Honors, in three majors: Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy from the University of California at Los Angeles at age 20. Four years later he received his Ph. D in Astronomy and Physics from the California Institute of Technology. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. In the following three decades, he was a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was also a pioneer in astrophysics and computational physics and remained a world leader in the fields of radiation transport, radiation hydrodynamics, and astrophysical quantitative spectroscopy for most of his career. His broad knowledge and immense contributions earned him election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1981 (at age 42, fifteen years earlier than the usual age of entry) and many other distinguished awards. He had an exceptional record of both quantity and quality of work, and developed new and far-reaching methodologies yielding results of great importance. He made outstanding contributions to the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Besides many high-quality papers, he authored or co-authored seven books and co-edited three others. Among them, three of his books have been used as textbooks for both undergraduate and graduate courses worldwide. He was one of the six main speakers in the first Hellenic Astronomical Conference in 1992. Throughout his long career, he gave generously of himself to all with whom he interacted and has left a lasting legacy to be cherished by those who knew him.

4. JOB OPENINGS AT NOA

The Solar Physics Group of the Institute of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens is inviting applications for two postdoctoral research positions in the field of Solar Physics. The fellowships are for a period of up to 20 months. The positions will end at the latest on September 30, 2015 and the preferred starting date is January 1st, 2014. Applicants with previous experience in data analysis and interpretation of imaging and spectroscopic solar observations from ground-based and space-borne instruments are invited to apply. Of particular interest are postdoctoral candidates who have some experience and are interested in the study of solar small-scale events, line profile inversion techniques, magnetic field extrapolation methods, waves, numerical simulations. The successful candidates must hold a PhD in solar physics. Interested candidates should send a CV, a list of publications, a brief description of their experience and research interests and the names of two referees to Dr. G. Tsiropoula (georgia@noa.gr) before the 22th of December 2013. The positions are funded in the framework of the program "ARISTEIA II" of the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology. Two Postdoctoral positions are available for the optical investigation of the most extensive, but faint, emission line phenomena at high galactic latitudes: these are the 100 degree long radio spurs, the HI bridge between the Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy, the foreground for correction of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements, the detection and study of large-scale filamentary structures (i.e. supernova remnants). A PhD degree in astrophysics is a prerequisite. The positions will be funded by the “ARISTEIA II” program of the Greek Secreteriat of Research and Technology. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, a brief statement of current and future research interests (in PDF format) and three letters of reference, sent directly by e-mail to Dr. P. Boumis (ptb@astro.noa.gr). Consideration of applications will begin on December 10th, 2013 and will continue until the positions are filled. A starting date in January 2014 is anticipated. The duration of the positions, depending on the starting date, will be up to 2 years, and the net monthly salary will be €1600.

5. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE

NETSPACE Workshop NETworking technologies for efficient SPACE data dissemination and exploitation Athens, February 18-19, 2014 OSSF14: The Olympian Symposium on Star Formation Paralia Katerini's, Mount Olympus, 26-30 May 2014 Geospace revisited: a Cluster/MAARBLE/VAP conference, Rhodes, 15-20 September 2014

6. ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

This Newsletter was sent to all members of Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access. The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around January 1st, 2014. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before December 20, 2013. If you do not wish to receive future issues of this Newsletter or the e-mail address to which it was sent is not your preferred one, please inform the Secretary of Hel.A.S.