Press Releases
Laser Surface Photochemistry: Memories from a Friend - Symposium in memoriam of Savvas Georgiou
28 September 2015, 14:00‐18:00
FORTH, Seminar Room 1
The symposium is dedicated to the memory of Savvas Georgiou, former Research Director at IESL‐FORTH, a good friend and an excellent colleague. This half day special event will highlight Savvas’ scientific contributions and present memories from his everyday interaction with students and colleagues. The scientific session will feature lectures from international experts on recent advances of laser surface photochemistry and related fields. This will be followed by a session portraying Savvas as a researcher, teacher and friend, with stories and anecdotes drawn through the memories of fellow researchers and students. The symposium will conclude with the inauguration of a new laboratory on advanced materials laser nano‐processing within the premises of IESL‐FORTH, named after Savvas Georgiou.
A short biography
Savvas Georgiou was born in Athens, Greece (1961). He received his B.Sc. in chemistry and mathematics from Knox College, Illinois (1983), and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry (on the study of photodissociation dynamics of organometallic compounds) from the University of Utah (1988). He subsequently performed postdoctoral work on Raman spectroscopy of biomolecules at Princeton University. Completing his two‐year military service in the Greek Army, in 1992, Savvas joined IESL‐FORTH, where he was promoted to Research Director in 2007. He also held positions as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department, University of Crete and as an Assistant Professor at the Physics Department, University of Ioannina, Greece. He received various awards and participated in several national and European Union research projects. His scientific interests focused on studies of laser ablation, laser photochemistry and biophysics, and laser material
processing schemes. He was an author of over 80 journal publications and tens of conference contributions, many of them invited ones. His scientific research activity was unexpectedly interrupted in 2009 due to a serious health problem.
Savvas Georgiou passed away on 22 October 2012. He is survived by his wife Irene and daughter Rosaline.