John H. Seiradakis

Greece

1948-2020

Obituary:

John Seiradakis was born in Chania, Crete. He obtained his degree in Physics
(1971) from the University of Athens and his M.Sc. (1973) and Ph.D. (1975) from the
Victoria University of Manchester.

From 1975 to 1985 he worked as a Post Doc researcher at the Max-Planck-
Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, at the University of Hamburg and at the
University of California, San Diego. In 1985 he was appointed Associate Professor at
the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 1996 full Professor. In 2011 he was
elected Director of the Laboratory of Astronomy of the Aristotle University, a
position that he held until his retirement in August 2015. In December 2015, he was
appointed Professor Emeritus.

His major scientific interests in Astronomy, focus on neutron stars, neutral
hydrogen in nearby galaxies, the galactic centre, flare stars, the Sun, the Moon and
Archaeoastronomy. He has written 3 course books and has published more than 100
articles in refereed (mainly) and other scientific journals, volumes or conference
proceedings. He has also written popular astronomy books and published several tens
of articles in newspapers or popular magazines.
He has represented Greece in large European networks (OPTICON, ILIAS,
CRAF, etc) and in international resolutions.

In December 2005, the highest EU prize “Descartes” was awarded to the
neutron stars research network, PULSE, in which he is a founding member.
He is a member of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Group. Since 2007,
he has given more than 200 lectures, public or scientific, in Greece and around the
world for the Antikythera Mechanism.

Finally, he has served as Member, Chairman or Director in several national or
international scientific Committees or Organizations, including the Greek National
Committee for Astronomy and the Hellenic Astronomical Society.

Second Obituary: https://rahist.nrao.edu/seiradakis_bio-memoir.shtml