APRIL 2019 - TOPICS

Short News Obituary: Dimitrios Vaiopoulos (1941-2019) Official Release of the Athens - COSPAR 2022 Candidacy Videos New EAS membership scheme on track ESA invitation for Voyage 2050 long-term plan science programme Student and Postdoctoral Research Opportunities Abroad Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece About this Newsletter

1. Short News

New position on Cosmology: The Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote sensing of the National Observatory of Athens invites applications for a Researcher B position in the domain of Cosmology. The deadline is for April 22. For the official announcement please look here. We inform our members that our Society, along with the Hellenic Society on Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology and the Hellenic Society of High Energy Physics, has posted an open letter commenting on recent actions of an organization representing Greek Physicists. The letter can be found at the homepage of Hel.A.S. We would like to congratulate Ordinary Member Manolis Georgoulis for being named one of the top 10 reviewers of the journal Advances in Space Research for 2018. ASR specializes in original scientific and technological innovations on solar, heliospheric and planetary environment research and is the signature journal of the International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).  We would also like to congratulate Manolis Georgoulis for his recent promotion to a Director of Research at the Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens. The Society extends its best wishes to Dr. Georgoulis for further success in his professional pursuits. The Society would like to congratulate our member, Dr. Gina Panopoulou, who was awarded a NASA Hubble Fellowship and will be continuing her postdoctoral career at Caltech in the US.  The society extend its best wishes to Dr. Panopoulou for further success in her scientific endeavors.

2. Obituary: Dimitrios Vaiopoulos (1941-2019) IThe Society expresses its condolences for the passing of Dimitris Vaiopoulos, Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Geography at the Department of Geology of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), and Founding Member of our Society. Dimitris Vaiopoulos was born in Karditsa, Thessaly in 1941. He held a B.Sc. degree from the Mathematics Department of the NKUA Greece (1968) and a PhD from the Physics Department of the NKUA (1977) with a focus on stellar evolution. He was Assistant and Head Assistant at the Laboratory of Astronomy, Department of Physics, NKUA (1968 – 1980). His research interests included the construction of mathematical models in astronomy, astrophysics, geology, physicogeography and dynamical systems. He was the founder and director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing of the Geology Department at the NKUA.

3. Official Release of the Athens - COSPAR 2022 Candidacy Videos It is already known that Athens was selected by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) to host the 44th COSPAR General Assembly (GA) in July 2022. The selection was achieved following a successful bid against Lausanne, Prague and Warsaw, with all bids evaluated during the 42th COSPAR GA in Pasadena, California, USA (July 2018). Athens was selected from the first round, receiving a total 55% of votes from the 45 countries comprising the COSPAR Council. COSPAR GA is organized in Greece for the first time. COSPAR GAs are large-scale, diverse meetings devoted to astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and space physics, benefiting multiply the relevant scientific communities of the organizing countries. The Athens - COSPAR 2022 is expected to be attended by a total of 3000 - 4000 participants. The website of the  organization can be found: here. The video was produced by a professional production company with critical input from the Eugenides Foundation and Planetarium, and the Helenic Broadcasting Corporation (HBC / ERT). The Athens’ candidacy video, in its full and short (teaser) versions, was made publicly available in March 2019 and can be found here: full version, teaser version. The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of Athens - COSPAR 2022 pledges to keep the Society informed about future developments toward the preparation and implementation of this important scientific gathering.

4. New EAS membership scheme on track The EAS is transitioning toward its new membership scheme in which interested members of affiliated Societies receive free membership if they meet the EAS membership requirements. Most Affiliated Societies have provided their membership  lists. The new database is now available online, and all EAS members (Individual or Affiliated) can request their new user name and password by providing their e-mail address in the box below "I forgot my username and password" at https://eas.unige.ch/login.jsp. Please note that previous login details are no longer valid. You can then check the details available in our database. Please click here for more information.

5. ESA invitation for Voyage 2050 long-term plan science programme ESA invites individual scientists and scientific teams to submit a white paper for the Voyage 2050 long-term plan scientific program. Voyage 2050 will be the successor of Cosmic Vision, 2015-2025, the current cycle of ESA's long-term planning for space science missions. The call, containing information about Voyage 2050 is available here The deadline for receipt of applications is 6 May 2019, 12:00 (noon) CEST.

6. Student and Postdoctoral Research Opportunities Abroad

The list below may be refreshed or updated with further established lists: The Institute of Theoretical Physics IFT CSIC/UAM welcomes applications to a postdoctoral position in astroparticle phenomenology (1+1 years). The position starts in fall 2019, the candidate should have the PhD before June 30, 2019. For more info look here The first ever ESO Summer Research Programme provides the unique opportunity to students, not yet enrolled into a PhD programme, to carry out a 6-week long research project at the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany). For more info look here Any Member of the Society who wishes to contribute another credible link with opportunities, or individual opportunities that will, however, be shown in a single-liner format as above, is encouraged to contact the Secretary of the Society.

7. Upcoming Astronomy Meetings in Greece

Summer School for Astrostatistics 18th-21th June, Heraklion, Crete, Greece Registration deadline on 26th April Exploring the Infrared Universe: The Promise of SPICA 20th-23th May 2019, Hersonissos, Crete, Greece Supernova Remnants II, and odyssey in space after stellar death 3th-8th June 2019, Chania, Crete, Greece Supermassive black holes environment and evolution 19th-22th June 2019, Corfu Town Feedback and its role in Galaxy formation 25th-29th June 2019, AKSS, Spetses, Greece, 4th OBSPM/LAM Summer School Galaxy Formation and Evolution in a Cosmological Context Spetses 28th August – 5th September 2019.

8. 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 May 1, 2019.  Please send your announcements (e.g., appointments / departures, job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece) or comments before April 25, 2019. 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. at secretary@helas.gr.