It so happened that this year on August 15, 2022, the sheet was published in an insert “Art and Literature” from “K” his last message Dionysus Simopoulouwho passed away a few days ago. Although the cancer returned and hit him hard, he was once again punctual: every other Sunday, in the “On occasion” column of the insert, he unfolded all his art. Even breathing through.

It has been and always will be an honor and pleasure for me that through this column, Dionysius Simopoulos has embellished Art and Literature with his amazing scientific stories and analyses. After I was placed in charge of the insert in October 2013, the first person I called to ask for cooperation was Dionysios Simopoulos. After almost nine years of continuous collaboration, a solid volume of his texts has already been assembled, which will actually become the content of a volume that will soon be released by Metaichmio.

Science is culture

Science is (and) culture, culture is (and) science. Science is full of fascinating stories, strange, outrageous concepts and theories, parallel worlds, exotics that go beyond the most fantastic scenarios of science fiction. Especially when it comes to astrophysics, astronomy and cosmology, Dionysius Simopoulos brought with him all that air of things that I tried to describe above, but always speaking with facts, numbers and examples.

He was extremely popular with the general public and was, of course, the person journalists turned to every time we received new news from his area. Space. He had a gift for contagiousness and communication of complex concepts. Above all, he knew how to turn everything from explaining the operation of a new spacecraft to new observations of quasar stars into a compelling story.

He knew how to turn everything from explaining the operation of a new spacecraft to new observations of quasar stars into a compelling story.

He was a charismatic, engaging storyteller and a wonderful collaborator. Even in the most difficult moments of his illness, D. Simopoulos did not miss his place in the Sunday cultural insert “Kathimerini”. From now on, we will miss him very much…

At least our cooperation, our communication, his letters, his stories (all true, but so fantastic!), his warm laugh and his kind words personally make me remember why working in a newspaper is worth it not only for me, but also for me. personally it is also very helpful. Family, friends and colleagues will miss Dionysus Simopoulos very much. The new digital planetarium of the Eugenides Foundation he mourns his inspiration and his support, and all of us who knew him in the context of our work feel this terrible lack of a scholar who could also be a bard or magician of the tribe. He knew well that science hides something of awe, a sense of magic that man has experienced for the world and nature from the age of the caves to the first steps of astronomy. It feels like you’re still there, despite the horrifying new discoveries.

He also knew how to convey that feeling and knowledge. He survived this fellowship, it gave him the strength to continue even in the most difficult moments of a difficult test of his health.

We will all miss him, but at least we still have his books, we have the New Digital Planetarium, and some of us will always remember those 80s TV shows with “red giants and white dwarfs” and so on. d. Quizzes for children on topics taken from astronomy. These shows have been a start for many of us.

Last interview

In the last big interview we did together in 2019, I asked him if he was aware of his contribution. His answer was: “You ask me if I am aware of my contribution to the country. No, I do not have. I’ll tell you something, and don’t take it as modesty. I was the first among hundreds of workers who passed through the Foundation (Eugenida), but I was talkative and journalists liked the simplicity with which I explained complex concepts. I looked charismatic, but I consider myself a pot watered with basil. I have always listened to my partners and I must stress that we had the resources to do what we wanted to do.”

41 years in the planetarium

Dionisis Simopoulos was born in Ioannina in 1943 but grew up in Patras. Despite a successful enrollment at Patras Physics, he decided to leave for the United States, where he studied political communication and astrophysical communication at the University of Louisiana. His career began in January 1968 when he took a position as curator, assistant director of education, and later director of the planetarium at the Louisiana Arts and Sciences Center. The course of his life changed 180 degrees in October 1972 at the invitation of the Eugenides Foundation, to which he was to dedicate his work for over 41 years as director of the Eugenides Planetarium. In 1996 he received the highest award of the International Planetary Society for his contribution to international astronomical education, and in 2006 he was awarded the “Academic Phoenix” of France. In 2015, the Academy of Athens awarded him “for his general contribution to the popularization and dissemination of astronomy and the exemplary work of the Eugenides Planetarium.”