Book Presentation: Dimitri Nanopoulos, On the third rock from the Sun
On Saturday 17 December at 7.30pm, the academician and eminent professor of High Energy Physics at Texas A&M; University, Dimitri Nanopoulos, will be in FOUGARO's HALL 9 to present his autobiographical book On the third rock from the Sun; A life, science and other parallel universes (Patakis Press). The book is the outcome of forty-three long sessions of the author with journalist Makis Provatas.
Dimitri Nanopoulos will talk with Makis Provatas, answer the audience's questions and sign copies of his books, which will be available at the venue.
The book
"A lifetime in a book? Not possible… What to say, what to leave out, how to make others understand the indescribable joy, the momentary bliss of a great success or the deep sadness of a failure, private or professional? And, indeed, why do it at all?
It was all this I was thinking as we worked on this book with Makis Provatas, whose collaboration was sine qua non. Gradually I convinced myself of the usefulness of this venture. I was fortunate enough to live through a fascinating time in the history of Particle Physics and Cosmology, and with hard work I managed to contribute to the progress of science and add a little stone to the edifice of a better understanding of the Universe. My trajectory was "academically cosmopolitan" —"[…] many cities of men he saw and learned their minds […]" - and this experience may be of some interest and usefulness to readers; to see the true stuff science is made of, rough and unadorned..."
Professor Dimitri Nanopoulos is an eminent theoretical physicist. As measured in 2001 and 2004, with over 45,700 citations across numerous disciplines he comes fourth among the theoretical physicists of all times.
He holds the Mitchell / Heep Chair in Particle Physics at Texas A&M; University, is Head of the Astroparticle Physics Group of Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC), Texas, and heads the Theoretical Physics Office of the Academy of Athens, Greece.
Dimitri Nanopoulos has provided major insights into particle physics and cosmology, and works on Unified Theories, the fundamentals of quantum theory, astroparticle physics and quantum-inspired models of brain function. He has authored over 680 original papers, all published in high-impact journals (h index = 103), and 15 books.
Awards & Distinctions:
- 1990 nominated by the USA for the Nobel in Physics
- 1996 Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic
- 1997 elected to the Academy of Athens
- (& 2005) Gravity Researh Foundation, Massachusets, USA
- 2006 Onassis International Prize
- 2009 Enrico Fermi Prize from the Italian Physical Society (SIF)
