John Seiradakis
John Seiradakis was born in Chania, Crete. He obtained his degree in Physics from the University of Athens. He obtained 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.
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 supervised PhD Theses, participated in several international conferences and represented Greece in international resolutions. He has participated in or chaired several Evaluation Committees of research projects and represented Greece in large European networks (OPTICON, ILIAS, CRAF, etc).
He is the Director of the Laboratory of Astronomy of the Aristotle University,
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 180 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.
Presentation Title: The Antikythera Mechanism: Τhe 1st ever computer, built 2000 years ago