This web page contains, for reasons of historic preservation, a number of documents and reports which are related to the history and research activities of modern astronomy in Greece.

Greek Dissertations in Astrophysics

A list with all PhD dissertations that have been awarded by Greek Universities in the fields of Astrophysics, Dynamical Astronomy, and Space Physics is available here. If you notice an error please inform Prof. V. Charmandaris.

The information has also been included in the AcademicTree and can be readily modified by any registered user. You may peruse, for example, the academic genealogy tree of Prof. Demetrios Eginitis, the first astronomer of the 20th century in Greece and fifth Director of the National Observatory of Athens.

Historic PhD Dissertations of Greek Astronomers

In the following we present the full text of all theses performed by greek astronomers until 1960. Prof. Kokkidis, is the first graduate of a Greek University who obtained a Ph.D. in Astronomy (1862). We also include the dissertations of Prof. Plakidis and all his doctoral students, including Prof. G. Contopoulos, who supervised an inpressive number of 42 greek PhD students, as well as Prof. Xanthakis and his first doctoral student Prof. Mavridis. These scientists influenced substantially the development of astronomy and astrophysics in Greece for the decades that followed.

It should be mentioned that Prof. Eginitis (1862-1934), who formally had only one PhD student (Prof. Plakidis), did not write a dissertation since this was not compulsory in Greece until 1911. His most notable work just after completing his undergraduate studies in 1886, was the “Memoire sur la stabilite du systeme solaire” (1889) written while he was studying at Paris Observatory.

• The PhD thesis of Prof. Demetrios K. Kokkidis, entitled “Variationibus Declinationum Stellarum θ Ursae Majoris et β Draconis” (Univ. of Berlin – Germany, 1862).
• The PhD thesis of Prof. John N. Xanthakis, entitled “A contribution to the theory of anomalies of first order differential equations” (Univ. of Athens, 1930).
• The PhD thesis of Prof. Stavros Plakidis, entitled “On the period anomaly of long period variable stars” (Univ. of Athens, 1931) is available as a PDF file (low resolution – 4 MBytes and high resolution – 104 MBytes).
• The PhD thesis of Prof. Demetrios Kotsakis, entitled “On the integrability of Monge equations” (Univ. of Athens, 1937) is available as a PDF file (47 MBytes).
• The PhD thesis of Dr. George Adamopoulos, entitled “The Moon and the weather” (Univ. of Athens, 1945)
• The PhD thesis of Prof. Ioannis Argyrakos, entitled “Study of the Fenon 55 pendulum of the National Observatory of Athens” (Univ. of Athens, 1945)
• The PhD thesis of Dr. William Abbot, entitled “The secondary maxima of Cepheids” (Univ. of Athens, 1946)
• The PhD thesis of Dr. Constantin J. Macris, entitled “On the granulation of the solar photosphere” (Univ. of Athens, 1951)
• The PhD thesis of Prof. Lyssimachos N. Mavridis, entitled “On the mathematical expression of the annual air temperature and its fluctiations as a function of the solar activity” (Univ. of Thessaloniki, 1954)
• The PhD thesis of Dr. Demetrios N. Katsis, entitled “A contribution to the study of azimuthal variation of meridian telescopes” (Univ. of Athens, 1955)
• The PhD thesis of Prof. George Contopoulos, entitled “On the dynamics of globular clusters” (Univ. of Athens, 1957)
• The PhD thesis of Prof. Sotirios Svolopoulos, entitled “A contribution on the study of classical Cepheids” (Univ. of Athens, 1959)

Various Documents & Reports

In 2015, Prof. V. Charmandaris prepared a report entitled “Greek Astronomy PhDs: the last 200 years…” based on the database of all PhDs that have been awarded by Greek Universities in the fields of Astrophysics, Dynamical Astronomy, and Space Physics .

In 2013, twenty years since the establishment of HelAS, a special issue of Hipparchos was published, which contained a detailed description of the current state of Astrophysics in Greece.

In 2010, Prof. P. Niarchos and Dr. A. Petropoulou, prepared a brief report on the astronomy infrastructure in Greece, entitled: “170 Years of observational astronomy in Greece: telescopes and instrumentation“.

In 2009, on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy, Prof. P. Laskarides updated the YearBook with brief CVs of most Greek Astronomers.

In 2007, Prof. Theodossiou, in collaboration with V. Manimanis and P. Mantarakis, published a detailed article on the life and work of Prof. Demetrios Eginitis in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, entitled: “Demetrios Eginitis: Restorer of the Athens Observatory“.

In 2007, a special issue of Hipparchos was published, which contained a detailed description of the current state of Observational Astronomy and related infrastructures in Greece.

In 2006, Prof. V. Charmandaris was invited to prepare a report, entitled “Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Physics in Greece“. The report described the situation, to-date, and various organizational aspects pertaining to the field of astrophysics in Greece and it was published in the volume “Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy 7“, Editors: HECK, Andre (Ed.).

In 2004, the newspaper “Ημερησία” published a special volume, in greek, with articles on the history of the National Observatory of Athens and its benefactors.

The 1998 Terzian report on Astronomy in Greece at the Gates of the 21st Century

In 1993, during the 1st Conference of HelAS Prof. J. Xanthakis gave the welcome address briefly describing the first steps of astronomy in Greece.

In 1992, Prof. P. Laskarides prepares the first YearBook with brief CVs of most Greek Astronomers. The publication, which is in greek, includes pictures of many members of the Society at a substantially younger age.

In 1978, Prof. S. Plakidis and Prof. D. Kotsakis, prepared a report entitled Astronomy in Modern Greece. This was the second edition of a similar document prepared in 1960.

Obituary of Dr. John S. Paraskevopoulos (1889-1951), a prominent Greek astronomer (PhD Univ. of Athens 1910) who passed most of his professional career abroad, prepared by Prof. Bart J. Bock (Harvard Univ.)

Annual Reports of the Greek National Committee for Astronomy

In the past, the Greek National Committee for Astronomy prepared annual reports, in English, presenting, in brief, the research activities in the general area of astronomy, of all research centers and universities in Greece. The original reports of the following years have been retrieved and scanned by Ms O. Koumentakou, the Secretary of GNCA as well as IAASARS/NOA, and are available as PDF files.

1960 – 1961 – 1962 – 1963 – 1964 – 1965 – 1966 – 1967 – 1968 – 1969
1970 – 1971 – 1972 – 1973 – 1974 – 1975 – 1976 – 1977 – 1978 – 1979
1980 – 1981-89

In 1997 the Greek National Committee for Astronomy appointed an External Committee, chaired by Prof. Yervant Terzian (Cornell Univ.), to investigate and report on the possible directions of the Astronomical Sciences in the 21st century in Greece. This report, also included in the “Various Documents & Reports” sections, is available here.

Annual Reports of the Dept. of Physics of the Univ. of Thessaloniki

The annual reports of the activities of the Section of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics of the Dept. of Physics at the University of Thessaloniki from 1984 until 2009, are available in Greek.

1984-85 – 1985-86 – 1986-87 – 1987-88 – 1988-89 – 1989-90
1990-91 – 1991-92 – 1992-93 – 1993-94 – 1994-95
1995-96 – 1996-97 – 1997-98 – 1998-99 – 1999-00
2000-01 – 2001-02 – 2002-03 – 2003-04 – 2004-05
2005-06 – 2006-07 – 2007-08 – 2008-09

A report on the activities of the “Astronomy Laboratory”, an informal division of the Section of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, prepared in 2011 is available here.

Annual Reports of the Dept. of Physics of the Univ. of Crete

The annual reports of the activities of the Section of Astrophysics and Space Physics of the Dept. of Physics of the University of Crete from 2004 until 2018, when the Institute of Astrophysics – FORTH was created and reporting of all astrophysics activities was merged, follow:

2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2007 – 2008 – 2009 – 2010 – 2011 – 2012 – 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 – 2018

Annual Reports of the Institute of Astrophysics – FORTH

The annual reports of the activities of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH) from 2019, the first year of its operations, until today are available in English.

2019 & 2021 – 2021 – 2022 – 2023

Annual Reports of the National Observatory of Athens

The first annual report on the activities of the National Observatory of Athens in 1891-92, one year after it became a state funded institution is available in Greek here.

The 25-year report on the history and activities of the National Observatory of Athens, period 1890-1915, by D. Eginitis is available here.

The annual reports of the activities of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens, from its creation in 2012 until today are available in Greek.

2012 – 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022

The annual reports of the activities of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 2000 until 2012 – when it was merged with the Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing, to form the new Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens – are available in Greek.

2000 – 2001 – 2002 – 2003 – 2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2007 – 2008 – 2009
2010 – 2011

The annual reports of the activities of the Institute for Space Applications and Remote Sensing from 1998 until 2012 – when it was merged with the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, to form the new Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens – are available in Greek. The report of the year 2007 is also available in English.

1998 – 1999
2000 – 2001 – 2002 – 2003 – 2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2007 – 2008 – 2009
2010 – 2011 – 2012

Annual Reports of the Research Center for Astronomy & Applied Mathematics

The annual reports of the activities of the Research Center for Astronomy & Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Athens are available (some only in Greek).

2009 – 2010 – 2011 – 2012 – 2013 – 2014 – 2015 – 2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – 2020 – 2021 – 2022