GENERAL
- Born in Athens 13/7/1960. Married with one son.
- Spoken languages: Greek (mother tongue), English, Italian, Spanish
- PhD in Astronomy, University of Sussex (1989) [supervisor Prof J.D. Barrow]
- Memberships: International Astronomical Union, Hellenic Astronomical Society (founding member) and the Hellenic Society of Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology (founding member)
- Prices/Awards: (a) British Council Fellowship (1988-1989), (b) Marie Curie Fellowship (under the Human Capital & Mobility EU program) – (1994-1996).
CURRENT POSITIONS:
- Professor, Physics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- Director and President of BoD of the National Observatory of Athens (until end of April 2025)
- Adjunct Professor, CERIDES (Centre for Risk and Decision Sciences), European University Cyprus
LEADERSHIP OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS/ CONSORTIA/ COMMITTEES
- Coordinator of the National Network for Climate Change-CLIMPACT
- President, State Thematic Committee of the Environment, Energy & Sustainable Mobility (2020-2023)
- Member of the European Space Science Committee (ESSC-ESF) for 2 terms (2017-2022)
- Member, State Thematic Committee of Physical Sciences (2016-2019)
- Member of the Greek National Committee for Astronomy (4 terms)
- Vice-President of the BoD of NOHSIS Technology & Science Museum (2016-2019) and member of the BoD (2020-2023).
- Member of NASA’s Chandra X-ray satellite (AO-11) and of ESA’s XMM (AO-12, AO-13) TAC Committees.
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the The Ultimate XMM Extragalactic X-ray Survey (XXL) project and of the Steering Committee of the corresponding International Consortium.
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the International collaboration: Cosmology with HII galaxies
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
- Scientific Interests: Cosmology, Extragalactic Astrophysics, Climate Change and Natural Disaster management, Legal aspects of Space endeavors
- Scientific Publications: >255 scientific publications, out of which >150 in International Refereed Journals (according to NASA/ADS), 2 reviews in Springer Lecture Notes in Physics, 95 in conference proceedings. Furthermore, >60 articles in daily newspapers, periodicals & newsletters.
- Books:
(a) Greek Space Law (Springer, 2025),
(b) Pseudoscience and Conspiracy Theories: a guide (Greek, Crete Univ. Press, 2023),
(c) Climate and Society (Scientific editing of Greek translation), Papazisis Publ. 2022,
(d) “The Space Book: From the Beginning to the End of Time” (Scientific editing of Greek translation), Parisianou Publ. 2017
- Citations: Total Citations (NASA-ADS): >5050 (h-index: 37), (Google Scholar): >6600 (h-index: 49).
- Student PhD Supervision: Supervision of 11 completed PhD theses.
- Scientific Journal Editor: Member of the Editorial Board of (a) the Journal of Modern Physics D and (b) the Open Journal of Astrophysics
- Referee of Scientific Programs for the: Greek State Funding Agency, Mexican CONACYT, Spanish CONICET, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), etc
- Referee for peer-review Journals: MNRAS, Astrophysical Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics, etc
- Conference Proceedings Editor:
- “Large Scale Structure in the X-ray Universe” eds. Plionis, M. & Georgantopoulos, I., Atlantic Sciences, Paris (ISBN 2-84394-227-6),
- “2nd Hellenic Cosmology”, eds. Plionis, M. & Cotsakis, S., (ISBN: 1-4020-0808-2, Kluwer, ASSL 276),
- “Multiwavelength Cosmology”, ed. Plionis, M. (ISBN:1-4020-1971-8, Kluwer, ASSL 301).
- “The Panchromatic View of Clusters of Galaxies and the Large-Scale Structure», Springer LNP, eds. Plionis, M., Lopez-Cruz, O. & Hughes, D., ISBN: 978-1-4020-6940-6, LNP Vol. 740 (2008)
ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
(a) Five (5) international conferences on Cosmology and Astrophysics:
- “Large-Scale Structure in the X-ray Universe” (1999, co-organized with NASA)
- “Multiwavelength Cosmology” (2003)
- “X-ray Surveys” (2007)
- “Half a Century of X-ray Astronomy” (2012)
- “Hot Spots in the XMM Sky” (2016)
(b) International postgraduate school:
- “A Panchromatic View of Clusters of Galaxies and the LSS” (Puebla, Mexico, 2005)
(c) 14th APPEC (Astroparticle Physics European Consortium) General Assembly, Athens, December 2018
(d) 1st and 2nd Panhellenic Cosmology Workshops
(e) Two (2) workshops on Natural Disaster Management:
- November 2017: “Environment, Space, Natural Disasters” under the auspices of the GSRT (General Secretariat for Research and Technology)
- November 2019: “The Contribution of Research Centers to Natural Disaster Management”, in collaboration with 10 other research centers under the coordination of the National Observatory of Athens (http://www.naturaldisasters.noa.gr)
FUNDING
