Renowned Greek Astrophysicist Giorgos Grammatikakis Passes Away

Renowned Greek astrophysicist Giorgos Grammatikakis died at the age of 84 at Heraklion, Crete. He had been receiving medical care in the intensive care unit of the local hospital for several days due to respiratory failure before succumbing on Wednesday morning.

Grammatikakis was born in Heraklion, Greece on 21 May 1939. He studied Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and continued with postgraduate studies at Imperial College, London.

He earned his PhD in experimental high energy physics from Imperial College in London in 1973. In 1982, he assumed the position of professor of physics at the University of Crete.

From 1990 to 1996, he held the role of rector at the University of Crete. Subsequently, he retired and was honored with the title of emeritus professor in 2006.

In 2014, as a member of the now-defunct To Potami party, he was elected as an MEP and served in this capacity until 2019.

He was a successful author of popular science books on cosmology and physics.

Giorgos Grammatikakis on Mars and extra-terrestrial life

In 2015, while he was an MEP, NASA announced that it had serious evidence of water on the surface of Mars. News that excited Grammatikakis.

In an interview with Europa Wire, he said: “You know, back in time we thought of Mars as a dead planet. Today, the picture has changed completely. It is a planet of enormous interest to science and NASA’s discovery is important not only because it is technologically very difficult to detect the water but because it reopens the big question of life in the universe.”

Grammatikakis also delved into the question of life existing beyond Earth. “Everyone wants extra-terrestrial life to exist. It is very difficult to say why but it seems to me that we don’t like being lonely, we don’t like thinking of our planet as being isolated. So we are seeking, with our imagination, with our books and in our thoughts green, red or blue little men.

“Life on Mars may well be discovered, but it will be in microbial form, infinitesimal, the absolute first building blocks of life. And nobody knows if it will be life that evolved sometime in the past or if it is still waiting to evolve,” the Greek astrophysicist said.

“I am sure that there is life elsewhere in the universe. We already know that, because we have discovered planets similar to Earth. But they are so far away that I regret to say, we will never get there. That’s why it’s maybe better to pay a bit more attention to our very own earth, to the poverty and inequality next to us and that are equally important,” Grammatikakis added.