The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece.
The National Observatory of Athens is a research institute in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest research foundation in Greece. The Observatory was the first scientific research institute built after Greece became independent in 1829, and one of the oldest research institutes in Southern Europe. It was built around the same period as the United States Naval Observatory.
The Faculty of Geology is part of the School of Sciences in National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Theodoros Orphanides or Orphanidis was a poet, professor, politician, author, and botanist. He was a pioneer in 19th-century Greek botany. He helped organize the botanical garden in Greece. The genus Orphanidesia is named after him. He collected 3483 specimens from 21 countries and identified 413 specimens from 9 different countries. He was a Professor of Botany at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He was one of the leading representatives of the First Athenian School. He received the Ralio award three times.
Ioannis "John" N. Hazzidakis was a Greek mathematician, physicist, author, and professor. He is one of the most important mathematicians of the modern Greek scientific era. His professor was world renowned Greek mathematician Vassilios Lakon. He also studied with famous German mathematicians Ernst Kummer, Leopold Kronecker, Karl Weierstrass. He systematically worked in the field of research and education. He wrote textbooks in the field of algebra, geometry, and calculus. Hazzidakis essentially adopted some elements of Lacon's Geometry. He introduced the Hazzidakis transform in differential geometry. The Hazzidakis formula for the Hazzidakis transform can be applied in proving Hilbert's theorem on negative curvature, stating that hyperbolic geometry does not have a model in 3-dimensional Euclidean space.
Anastasios Christomanos was one of the most important Greek scientists of the later part of the 19th century. His academic collaborators were some of the most important scientists in the world, including Robert Bunsen, Georg Ludwig Carius, Emil Erlenmeyer and Gustav Kirchhoff. He is the father of modern Greek chemical education. He wrote 73 books and dissertations. His fields of study included: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Analytical Chemistry. He helped restructure Greek education. Greek education was in the grasp of Korydalism for over 300 years. With the onset of the industrial revolution, Christomanos and his contemporaries were pioneers of modern education all over the world.
Konstantinos Papaioannou was a Greek physicist, mathematician, and professor of mechanics at the University of Athens.
The Sack of Athens in 267 AD was carried out by the Heruli, a Germanic tribe that had invaded the Balkans at the time. Despite the recent fortification of Athens with a new city wall, the Heruli succeeded in capturing the city and laid much of it waste, before they were driven out by the Athenians under the leadership of the historian Dexippus. The event left lasting damage to the city's monuments and stoas, and Athens lost its ancient glory and eminence, shrinking to the area around the Roman Agora, which was enclosed with a new wall.
Timoleon Argyropoulos was an experimental physicist, mathematician, author, and professor. He was a pioneer in modern Greek education. His field of study was electricity and magnetism. He helped develop experimental physics in modern Greek education. He was the father of Greek radiology. He replaced Dimitrios Stroumpos as the chair of physics at the University of Athens. Initially, the school of Physics and Mathematics was part of the School of Philosophy. Argyropoulos along with other world-renowned Greek scientists Anastassios Christomanos, Konstantinos M. Mitsopoulos, Spyridon Miliarakis, Nikolaos Apostolidis, and Anastasios Damvergis filed a memorandum to the Greek state to separate the schools in the late 1800s. Argyropoulos pioneered the formation of the Department of Physics. He became chair of the physics department on November 22, 1898. He gave a notable speech discussing modern science. He heavily discussed electricity and modern pioneers such as Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. He also discussed Michael Faraday, Heinrich Hertz, and countless other world-renowned physicists. He also emphasized the modernization and revitalization of the physics department. He made significant contributions to the field of physics and modern Greek education. He published eleven books.
Dimitrios Stroumpos was an astronomer, physicist, mathematician, author, and professor. He was a theoretical physicist. He was a pioneer in 19th-century Greek physics. He helped develop the physics department at the University of Athens. He was the dean. He did extensive research in the field of physics namely: the study of air and energy fields, electricity, magnetism, and telephones. He also studied the motion of molecules and developed a system of scientific observation. He developed the Strombo compass. His contemporaries at the time were Greek scientists Vassilios Lakon, Georgios Konstantinos Vouris, and Ioannis Papadakis. He was replaced as the chair of the physics department by his student world-renowned physicist Timoleon Argyropoulos after his death.
Xaver Landerer was an author, doctor, physicist, chemist, pharmacist, botanist, and professor. He was the pharmacist to the first king of Greece Óthon. He wrote a large number of books about chemistry and pharmacology during the modern scientific revolution. He was the first chemistry professor in Greece along with Alexander Venizelos. He helped organize Greek higher education. He established the first laboratory for pharmaceuticals in Greece. He influenced Anastassios Christomanos, Anastasios Damvergis and Dimitris Orphanides.
Iraklis Mitsopoulos was an author, biologist, archaeologist, physicist, zoologist, paleontologist, mineralogist, geologist, and professor. He is considered the father of modern natural sciences in Greece. He taught classes for over forty-seven years of his life. His nephew world renowned Greek geologist Konstantinos M. Mitsopoulos became the first student to receive a doctorate degree in the natural sciences at the University of Athens. His son Maximos Mitsopoulos also became a geologist. Hercules co-founded the Museum of Physical Geography in Athens, Greece, and directed its Zoological Department. He was the founder and lifelong President of the Zoological Department at the Museum of Paleontology, Geology, Zoology, and Botany. The museum is part of the University of Athens. He built the framework of modern Greek natural scientific education.
Konstantinos M. Mitsopoulos was an author, geologist, mineralogist, chemist, and professor. His uncle Iraklis Mitsopoulos was the father of modern natural sciences in Greece. He followed in his uncle's footsteps, and was the first student to receive a doctorate degree in the natural sciences at the University of Athens in 1868. He was one of the first scientists in Greece to publicly promote Darwin's theory of evolution. He edited and published the periodical known as Prometheus in 1890, promoting Darwinist views. The publication was shut down by the church two years later.
Stamatios D. Krinos was an author, chemist, pharmacist, botanist, and professor. He was one of the first Greek pharmacists to study pharmacology under Xaver Landerer and Alexandros Venizelos before the founding of the University of Athens. He opened one of the first pharmacies in Greece. He influenced Greek pharmacology in the 19th century during the Modern Scientific revolution. He did extensive research on Storax and wrote about the natural resin. He published a pharmaceutical magazine known as Asklepios in the late 1850s.
Kyriakos Domnandos, was a naturalist, professor, dean, author, and diplomat. He was one of the first professors at the newly founded University of Athens and one of the first naturalists in modern Greece. He was the first professor to teach zoology and natural history and did extensive research on molluscs specifically on living organisms and fossils. Domnandos was the second Dean of the School of Philosophy which was part of the University of Athens from (1838-1841) and was one of the co-founders of the Physiographic Society that laid the foundation of the Physiographic Museum or Natural History Museum; moreover, the collection of animals, plants, and fossils started by the Physiographic Society became part of the Zoological Museum of the University of Athens. He was also a member of the Filiki Eteria.
Nikolaos Apostolidis, was a biologist, naturalist, professor, dean, author, and politician. He replaced Iraklis Mitsopoulos as the second director of the Zoological Museum of the University of Athens. He served as Dean of the Philosophical School, Rector of the University of Athens, and Minister of Economics. He popularized natural science and was one of the most prolific Greek naturalists of the 20th century. He studied countless species of animals.
Demetrios Kokkidis was an astronomer, mathematician, physicist, professor, and dean. Kokkidis was the fourth president of the Athens Observatory after the death of Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt. He was one of the few Greek astronomers of the 20th century following Georgios Konstantinos Vouris and Ioannis Papadakis. He did extensive research and wrote articles about Mercury, the Sun, the Moon, and various meteorological phenomena.
Anastasios Damvergis was an author, dean, chemist, pharmacist, and professor. He was one of the first modern pharmacists in Greece. He wrote a 1200-page volume entitled Greek Pharmacopoeia outlining modern pharmaceutical formulas and remedies. The Greek government made the book the Greek pharmaceutical standard in 1908. He introduced modern pharmaceutical laboratories in different educational institutions and wrote textbooks in the field of chemistry and pharmacy; in addition, he also wrote articles for pharmaceutical and medical journals.
Demetrios Eginitis or Aiginitis was a Greek astronomer, physicist, mathematician, author, professor, dean, and politician. He replaced Demetrios Kokkidis becoming the fifth director of the National Observatory of Athens and the longest-serving director in the Observatory's history. He was one of the few Greek astronomers in modern Greek history during the 1800s, others included Georgios Konstantinos Vouris and Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt. He served as Minister of Education twice.
Stavros Plakidis Greek: Σταύρος Πλακίδης; May 22, 1893 – January 1, 1991) was an astronomer, professor, astrophysicist, mathematician, author, and director of the Astronomical Institute of the National Observatory of Athens and intermittently served as chairman of the National Observatory. He is considered the father of modern astronomy in Greece. Plakidis made systematic observations of variable stars, novae, planets, minor planets, stellar parallaxes, orbits of comets, and double stars, also contributing to the accurate geographic coordinates of the Athens Observatory. Plakidas independently discovered V1500 Cygni several hours after Minoru Honda claimed the find in Japan.
