The Olympian Symposium series started in 2014 and take place towards the end of May every year in Paralia Katerini’s, about 20km away from the world’s famous Mount Olympus. Paralia is a village that is part of the municipality of Katerini, a town in Central Macedonia, Greece, and the capital of the Pieria regional unit. It is located about 80km south of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city.
Following the Ancient Greek spirit of “Symposium” (meaning “convivial gathering of the educated over a glass of wine”), each Olympian Symposium aims to gather world-leading scientists to address the most recent results of the different topics covered each year. So far two such Symposia and one School have taken place, which a total of more than 330 participants attended, making the small village of Paralia play a central role in advancing the world’s astrophysical research. Prior to each Symposium, a general public lecture (in the Greek language) takes place in the same conference venue where the Symposium itself is held, raising public interest in Astrophysics at high levels.
The Olympian Symposium 2014
The Olympian Symposium 2014 was attended by 190 participants, 75 universities, and 35 nationalities. It covered the topic of Star Formation in which astrophysicists discussed important observational and theoretical results of how stars and planets are formed. The public lecture entitled “The Antikythera Mechanism” was given by Professor John Seiradakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and was attended by more than 350 citizens of the Pieria regional unit.
The Olympian Symposium 2015
The Olympian Symposium 2015 was attended by 120 participants, 45 universities, and 25 nationalities. It covered the topic of Cosmology and the Epoch of Reionization. The public lecture was given by the Distinguished Professor and President of the Academy of Athens Dimitri Nanopoulos and it was attended by more than 500 citizens.
The Olympian School of Astrophysics 2016
The ISM-SPP Olympian School 2016 of Astrophysics was an event dedicated to Ph.D. students and young researchers. It was attended by approximately 30 students coming from 12 different countries and covered the topic of physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium. The public lecture was given by the Director Emeritus of the Eugenides Planetarium of Athens, Dionisios Simopoulos and it was attended by more than 250 citizens. The School is kindly sponsored by ISM-SPP (DFG Priority Program 1573).
The Olympian Symposium 2018
The Olympian Symposium 2018 was attended by 167 participants, 46 universities and 28 nationalities. It covered the topic of Star Formation from small to large scales. The public lecture was given by Dr. Padelis Papadopoulos, Associate Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and it was attended by more than 200 citizens.
The event was kindly sponsored by the ISM-SPP and the Chalmers Initiative of Cosmic Origins (CICO). The Olympian Symposium 2018 was organized under the auspices of UNESCO and the Observatory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
FAIRness 2022: FAIR next generation scientists – 7th Edition
FAIRness 2022 was the seventh edition of a series of workshops designed to bring together excellent international young scientists with research interests focused on physics at FAIR.
The topics of the workshop cover a wide range of aspects in both theoretical developments and current experimental status, concentrated around the four scientific pillars of FAIR. There will be an inspiring mixture of new theoretical developments and experimental research:
- Atomic and plasma physics, biophysics, material sciences, and applications
- Nuclear structure, astrophysics, and reactions
- Physics of hot and dense nuclear matter, QCD phase transitions, and critical point
- Hadron Spectroscopy, Hadron Structure, Hadrons in matter and Hypernuclei
- Experimental programs APPA, CBM, HADES, NUSTAR, PANDA, as well as BES, NICA, and the RHIC beam energy scan
Invited speakers included Katerina Chatziioannou, Isabella Garzia, Yuri Litvinov, Paolo Parotto, Caroline Robin, and Maria Stefaniak
The Olympian Symposium 2023
The Olympian Symposium 2023 will take place during the week of May 29 – June 2, 2023, in Paralia Katerini.