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HELLENIC ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER
NUMBER 77 July 2004
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E-mail: elaset@astro.auth.gr WWW: http://www.astro.auth.gr/elaset
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TOPICS:
1. Short News
2. Job Opening
3. The Genaral Assembly of Hel.A.S.
4. The Elections of Hel.A.S.
5. Program Athinogaia
6. New address in the Academy of Athens
7. Upcoming Astronomy meetings in Greece
8. About this newsletter.
1. SHORT NEWS
-------------
We would like to congratulate Dr. Alexander Nindos (Univ. of
Ioannina) who was recently elected in the Board of of CESRA
(=Community of European Solar Radio Astronomers) during the last
CESRA meeting in Scotland the first week of June, 2004.
We would like to congratulate Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou who together
with Robert Duncan and Christopher Thompson was the recipient of
the 2003 Rossi Prize, the highest honor of the High Energy
Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society. Dr.
Kouveliotou received the award for her observational confirmation of
the existence of magnetars: neutron stars with extraordinarily
strong magnetic fields. Dr. Kouveliotou also played a leading role
in winning the 2002 Descartes Prize, which comes with a funding of
one million Euros, for gamma-ray burst afterglow observations by a
large European collaboration (Ed van den Heuvel, University of
Amsterdam is the PI of the collaboration).
Unfortunately, the editors of the newsletter did not become aware of
those awards at an earlier time and failed to inform the members of
Hel.A.S. in a timely manner. We would like to encourage all members
who happen to learn about similar news to share them with the
editors.
2. JOB OPENINGS
---------------
A new position at the level of "Assistant Professor" in the research
area of "Observational Astronomy" has openend in the Dept. of Physics
of the Univ. of Thessaloniki. (FEK 90, pages 567-568, 17 June
2004). More information on the position will be available in the web server
of Hel.A.S. and will also be provided in the next newsletter.
3. GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF HEL.A.S.
-----------------------------
During the General Assembly of Hel.A.S. (21/6/04) Prof. John
Hadjidemetriou, presented the HelAS invited talk "Dynamics of
Extrasolar Planetary Systems". In this very interesting and timely
talk, Prof. J. Hadjidemetriou presented with his usual systematic
and pedagogic way (which many members of HelAS had the chance to
enjoy as his former students at the Un. of Thessaloniki, but now
also including the aid of multimedia), his 3-body studies on this
classical problem related to the more than 107 extrasolar planetary
systems (more than 13 multiple systems) which have been already
observed and count more than 122 planets. The President of the
Society Prof. P. Laskarides presented a summary of the activities of
HelAS during the last two years, the Treasurer Assoc. Prof.
E. Theodossiou a detailed account of the finances, while the
Secretary Prof. K. Tsinganos affirmed the positive general outlook
of the Society and the HelAS membership status :
- Members of Hel.A.S. moving from Junior to Ordinary status:
Dr. Stamatellos Dimitrios (Cardiff University, U.K.)
- Newly elected Junior members:
Chatzivantsidis Georgios (Univ. of Thessaloniki)
Gerontidou Maria (Univ. of Athens)
Giannios Dimitrios (Univ. of Crete)
Metallinou Fiori-Anastasia (Univ. of Thessaloniki)
Petridis Andreas (Univ. of Cyprus)
Plainaki Xristina (Univ. of Athens)
- Newly elected Associate members:
Papaioannou Athanasios (Univ. of Athens)
- Members Deceased:
Dr. Polygiannakis John
4. THE ELECTIONS OF HEL.A.S.
------------------------------
In the elections that followed the 20th General Assembly of June
21, 2004, the members of Hel.A.S. voted for a President, as well as
a new Council and Auditors. The ballots were reviewed and counted by
a Committee having as members Dr. Mastichadis, Dr. Akylas and
Dr. Dallas. Out of the 254 members of the Society, 96
had paid their annual dues on the day of the elections and were
eligible to vote. A total of 89 ballots were collected, 6 of which
were not eligible to be considered according to the Constitution.
(5 were submitted late and 1 was from a member who had not paid his
dues).
The results were:
President: Prof. Laskarides Paul (79 votes)
Council: Prof. Tsinganos Kanaris (49 votes)
Assoc. Prof. Theodossiou Efstratios (38 votes)
Assoc. Prof. Moussas Xenophon (31 votes)
Assoc. Prof. Kokkotas Kostas (26 votes)
Ass. Prof. Hadjidimitriou Despina (22 votes)
Dr. Daglis Ioannis (22 votes)
Dr. Georgantopoulos Ioannis (20 votes)
Dr. Dara Eleni (18 votes)
Prof. Geroyannis Vassilios (12 votes)
Auditors: Ass. Prof. Danezis Emmanouil (39 votes)
Dr. Xilouris Emmanouil (39 votes)
Assoc. Prof. Mavromichalaki Eleni (25 votes)
Ass. Prof. Stergioulas Nikolaos (22 votes)
Dr. Grammenos Theofanis (16 votes)
Dr. Manimanis Vassilios (15 votes)
5. PROGRAM ATHINOGAIA
----------------------------
The General Secretariat of Research & Technology after an open
call for proposals and international peer review has funded the
astronomical project "ATHINOGAIA" for 24 months. The programme is
under the 3rd EC frame of support operational program:
Competitiveness, (code 4.3), activities/programs of international
organizations. The aim of this action is to encourage Greek
institutions for active collaborations in European and International
level with Organizations where Greece is a member or has special
convention for cooperation. This particular project will be focused
in the preparation of "GAIA" the ESA cornerstone mission. Four
young researchers with experience in the analysis & reductions of
astronomical data will be employed to carry out the tasks of the
project (postgraduate and post-doc level). The program will be
hosted by the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens and those
interested should contact Dr. M. Kontizas at mkontiza@cc.uoa.gr,
(30210 7276 770) till the 15th of July.
6. NEW ADDRESS IN THE ACADEMY OF ATHENS
---------------------------------------
The Research Center for Astronomy and Applied Mathematics
of the Academy of Athens has moved to a new building. Please visit
the online directory of the Society to find the new postal address
and phone numbers of the members of Hel.A.S. affiliated with the Center.
7. UPCOMING ASTRONOMY MEETINGS IN GREECE
----------------------------------------
The following meetings will take place in Greece in the coming
months. Please check the corresponding web pages or contact the
organizers by e-mail for more information.
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International Conference & Summer School
"Complexity in Science and Society"
Patras, 14-20 July
More information at:
http://www.math.upatras.gr/~crans/complexity/
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''The Environments of Galaxies:from Kiloparsecs to Megaparsecs"
Chania, Crete 9-13 August 2004
More information at:
http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/conferences/crete2004/
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8. ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
-------------------------
This Newsletter was edited by Vassilis Charmandaris and Kanaris
Tsinganos. It was forwarded to the 228, out of the 253, members of
Hel.A.S. who have e-mail access.
The next edition of the Newsletter will be mailed around August 1st
2004. Please send your announcements (e.g. appointments/departures,
job openings, research opportunities, awards, conferences in Greece)
or comments before July 25, 2004. All correspondence concerning the
Newsletter should be addressed to:
tsingan@phys.uoa.gr
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
let us know.
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