Ioannis Paraskevopoulos ( Greek Ιωάννης Παρασκευόπουλος ; English John Stefanos Paraskevopoulos ; June 20, 1889 - March 15, 1951 ) is a famous Greek and South African astronomer of the 20th century, whose name is called the crater on the moon, two comets and an asteroid.
| Ioannis Paraskevopoulos | |
|---|---|
| Ιωάννης Παρασκευόπουλος | |
| Date of Birth | June 20, 1889 |
| Place of Birth | Piraeus , Greece |
| Date of death | March 15, 1951 (61 years old) |
| Place of death | Bloemfontein , South Africa |
| A country |  Greece |
| Scientific field | astronomy |
| Place of work | Athens National Observatory , Yerkes Observatory , Mount Wilson , Boyden Observatory |
| Alma mater | University of Athens |
| supervisor | Boyden Observatory |
| Awards and prizes | Order of the Phoenix |
Content
Biography
Ioannis Paraskevopoulos was born on June 20, 1889 in Piraeus and graduated from the Physics and Mathematics University of Athens . For some time he worked as an assistant in the laboratory of chemistry and physics of the university, but his university career was interrupted in 1912 with the beginning of the Balkan Wars , when he volunteered to join the Greek army. Paraskevopoulos was demobilized only in 1919, after the end of the First World War . Noting his abilities, Professor Dimitrios Eginitis took him as his assistant to the Athens Observatory . In the same year, 1919 , Paraskevopoulos, receiving a scholarship for 2 years, went to the United States of America to deepen his knowledge in astronomy and explore the possibilities and conditions for buying a large telescope for the Athens Observatory. Part of this time, Paraskevopoulos worked at the Yerkes Observatory , where he met and married American astronomer Dorothy W. Block . He also worked at Mount Wilson Observatory . In 1921, Paraskevopoulos returned to Athens , where he was received by a full-time astronomer at the Athens Observatory. Returning to Greece at the height of the Asia Minor’s campaign of the Greek army, Paraskevopoulos was disappointed by the lack of funds for the purchase of a modern telescope and the fact that he could not apply his acquired knowledge.
For this reason, he again went to America, where he took over the directorate of the astronomical station of the Boyden Observatory of Harvard University (1923) in Arequipa Peru , in order to transfer it to a more suitable place. Indeed, a few years later (1927) it was decided to move the station to Bloemfontein of the Republic of South Africa , due to better climatic conditions, and Paraskevopoulos remained there to work as director of the observatory from 1927 until his death in 1951 [1] .
The activities of Paraskevopoulos focused mainly on the study of comets, a pair of which he discovered with his colleagues. He also discovered a new star and studied binary and variable stars.
The Harvard collection today contains more than 100 thousand photographs of his astronomical observations. In recognition of the work of Paraskevopoulos, the International Astronomical Society gave its name to a crater with a diameter of 94 km on the far side of the moon (Paraskevopoulos Crater). Paraskevopoulos became an honorary professor at Harvard University, was a member of the astronomical societies of the USA, France, South Africa and the British Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). He was awarded the Greek Order of the Phoenix and became an honorary member of the Academy of Athens [2]
Named In His Honor
- Asteroid 5298 Paraskevopoulos (5298 Paraskevopoulos), discovered in 1966 by the Boyden Observatory
- Comet C / 1940 O1 (Whipple-Paraskevopoulos) 1940
- Comet C / 1941 B2 (de Kock-Paraskevopoulos) 1941
- Paraskevopoulos Crater on the invisible side of the moon
Source
- Μαυρομμάτης, Κωνσταντίνος Δ .: Λεξικό Αστρονομίας - 2η έκδοση (με συμπλήρωμα) , έκδοση Εταιιεεααςααιααιααιααίααιαααααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίααίαλ
Links
- Ιστορική σελίδα για τον Ι.Σ. Παρασκευόπουλο
- Φωτογραφικό αρχείο του Πανεπιστημίου του Σικάγο
- Φωτογραφικό αρχείο, Αφιέρωμα του LiFO
Obituaries
- JRASC 45 (1951) p. 126 (one paragraph)
- MNRAS 112 (1952) p. 277
- Nature 167 (1951) 753
- Obs 71 (1951) 88 (one line)
- PASP 63 (1951) p. 212 (one paragraph)
- Sky and Telescope 10 (1951) p. 169
Links
- ↑ Assa Historical Section (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment March 17, 2015. Archived on May 8, 2014.
- ↑ Βιογραφίες - Ιωάννης Παρασκευόπουλος (John S. Paraskevopoulos)