| MAY 2008 - TOPICS |
- Short News
- Upcoming Elections of Hel.A.S.
- Meeting of the Governing Council of Hel.A.S.
- New members of GNCA.
- Job Openings
- Astrophysics Summer School in Crete
- Onassis Lectures in Cosmology at FORTH/Crete
- Urbino 2008: High Energy Astrophysics Summer School
- EURO-VO AIDA Research Initiative
- Upcoming Astronomy meetings in Greece
- About this Newsletter
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| 1. SHORT NEWS |
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At a press conference at the University of Vienna's Observatory, (see here) the Austrian Science Minister Johannes Hahn announced the decision by the Austrian Government to seek membership as the 14th member state of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) from 1 July this year. Hopefully the Greek astronomical community will take the necessary actions in order to convince our government to allocate the required funds and also apply to join the premiere European astronomical organization.
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| 2. UPCOMING ELECTIONS OF HEL.A.S. |
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By the the time you receive this e-mail all Ordinary and Junior members of Hel.A.S. must have received an envelope from the Society. The envelope includes the summary of the President on the activities of the current Governing Council during its term, the agenda for the 26th General Assembly of Hel.A.S., as well as the ballots and explanations on voting by mail from the Secretary. A printout with brief CVs of the candidates for the election, which is available online here, is also included. Please check your mailboxes, and cast your ballots as soon as possible!
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| 3. MEETING OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF HEL.A.S. |
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On April 4th 2008 the Governing Council (GC) of HelAS held via teleconference a meeting to discuss various issues related to organizational matters as well as upcoming activities of the Society. All members are strongly encouraged to read the minutes of this GC meeting which are available online at:
http://www.helas.gr/events/GC_04Apr08.pdf
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| 4. NEW MEMBERS OF GCNA |
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The minister of Development Mr. Ch. Folias has appointed the new Greek National Committee for Astronomy (GNCA) for the 2008-2009 term. The GNCA consists of Prof. Ch. Goudis (Univ. of Patras) as president, Prof. K. Tsinganos (Univ. of Athens) as vice-president, as well as Prof. V. Gerogiannis (Univ. of Patras), Prof. N. Kylafis (Univ. of Crete) and Prof. N. Spyrou (Univ. of Thessaloniki) as members. The substitute members of GNCA are Dr. I. Daglis (Nat. Obs. Athens), Dr. M. Plionis (Nat. Obs. Athens), Prof. J. Papamastorakis (Univ. of Crete), Prof. J. Seiradakis (Univ. of Thessaloniki) and Prof. H. Varvoglis (Univ. of Thessaloniki).
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| 5. JOB OPENINGS |
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A new position at the level of "Researcher C" in the field of "Solar Physics" has opened at the Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens. The application deadline is May 9, 2008. For more information contact the secretariat of the Academy Ms. E. Karafoti, at: +30 210 3664784 (as well as +302106597246, +302106597143, +302106597140)
A new position at the level of "Researcher D" in the field of "Observational Astrophysics in the optical with emphasis in massive stars" has opened at the Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics of the National Observatory of Athens. The application deadline is May 19, 2008. For more information contact the secretariat of NOA Ms. Rania Koumentakou, at: +30 210-3490106
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| 6. ASTROPHYSICS SUMMER SCHOOL IN CRETE |
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The Advanced Physics Summer School organized by the Department of Physics of the University of Crete for the 20th year in a row, has this year as a theme "The detection of Black Holes in the Universe". The courses of the school with take place between the 7th and 15th of July 2008 in the Physics Bldg of the University of Crete. The level of the courses is for senior (4th year) and Masters students with some experience in Astrophysics. Financial support for a number of participants will be provided. The application deadline is May 31st 2008. For more information please visit the web page of the Summer School at:
http://summer.physics.uoc.gr
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| 7. ONASSIS LECTURES IN COSMOLOGY AT FORTH/CRETE |
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The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation in cooperation with the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH) organize annually, a series of advanced seminar lectures in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics or Computer Science. This year the Physics Seminars series will take place from June 30 to July 4 and it is entitled "Cosmology: An Astrophysical Perspective". The keynote speaker is Dr. John Mather (NASA - 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics) along with Prof. T. Abel (Stanford Univ.), Prof. W. Hu (Univ. of Chicago), Prof. R. Kirshner (Harvard Univ.), Prof. J. Peebles (Princeton Univ.), Prof. P. Steinhardt (Princeton Univ.), and Prof. J.C. Wheeler (Univ. of Texas at Austin). The Onassis Foundation will support travel and accommodation for up to 50 Greek and 30 international students based on their academic performance. The application deadline for international students is May 31st 2008 while for greek students it is June 10, 2008. For more information please visit the web page of the Onassis Lectures at:
http://www.forth.gr/onassis/lectures/2008-06-30/
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| 8. URBINO 2008: HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS SUMMER SCHOOL |
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The High Energy Astrophysics Summer School, hosted at the University of Urbino, is aimed at enhancing interest in the area of high-energy astrophysics and at providing knowledge and expertise in data analysis techniques. This school will review the field of high-energy astrophysics with a series of scientific and data analysis lectures. These include: The history of the high energy astrophysics, Emission mechanisms, Instrumentation, Current high-energy hot topics. Much emphasis will be given to data analysis. Students will analyze data from current missions and will apply data analysis techniques to different astrophysical sources. The school is tailored for students at the end of their Masters degree or at the start of their PhD. The school attendance will be limited approximately to 30 students. The selection will be made on the basis of the CV and the description of the student present activities and interest. The school will take place between 28 July and 1 August 2008. For more details see:
http://universe.nasa.gov/urbino/
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| 9. EURO-VO AIDA RESEARCH INITIATIVE |
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Within the framework of AIDA (Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access), the European Virtual Observatory (EURO-VO) project is seeking proposals from teams carrying out archival research or projects that could benefit from the Virtual Observatory concept. The Virtual Observatory tools and applications allow seamless access to most of the world's large data archives such as ESO, ESA or HST. They also allow users to access a huge variety of reduced multiwavelength data and catalogues and to perform high-level analysis of images, spectra and large tabular datasets. Successful applicants will receive support from EURO-VO astronomers in using the VO facilities and software to complete their projects. The deadline for applications is June 15, 2008. For more details on the call and the submission procedure, see:
http://www.euro-vo.org/pub/fc/AIDA_call_2008.html
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| 10. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE |
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The following meetings will take place in Greece. Please check the corresponding web page or contact the organizers by e-mail for more information.
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| 11. ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER |
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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 June 1st 2008. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before May 25, 2008. 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.
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