Renowned physicist and author Giorgos Grammatikakis passes away at 84

Giorgos Grammatikakis, renowned Greek physicist, writer and former member of the European Parliament, passed away at the age of 84 on Wednesday morning.

He was briefly hospitalized and receiving medical care in the intensive care unit of the University General Hospital of Iraklio in Crete due to respiratory failure.

Grammatikakis 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.

Interested in the structure of matter and cosmology, he was engaged in the NESTOR Project, an international scientific collaboration to deploy a neutrino telescope on the sea floor off Pylos, southern Peloponnese.

From 1990 to 1996, he held the position of rector at the University of Crete.

He retired and was honored with the title of emeritus professor in 2006.

Giorgos Grammatikakis was also a successful author of popular science books on cosmology and physics:

He was a member of the board of directors of the former state-owned broadcasting corporation ERT and was vice president of the Greek National Opera.

Member of the European Parliament

In the 2014 European Parliament election, he was elected as one of two MEPs on the list of the newly founded political party To Potami (now defunct). He affiliated with the parliamentary group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and was a member of the Committee on Culture and Education and the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

He served as MEP until 2019.