Nikolaos Kylafis (Greek:Νικόλαος Κυλάφης) is a Greek Theoretical Astrophysicist, who is professor emeritus[1] at the Department of Physics of theUniversity of Crete, Greece.
Kylafis contributed to the founding of the Astrophysics Group of the University of Crete and theFoundation for Research & Technology - Helas (FORTH) in 1985 and led, together with his colleague Ioannis Papamastorakis, the effort to create the Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH in 2018.[2] He has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Physics since 1985. He has published research works in refereed journals.[3]
Nikolaos (Nick) Kylafis was born inNea Avorani, Greece, on 1 January 1949, where he grew up. In 1966 he was admitted at the Department of Physics of theUniversity of Patras and graduated in 1971.[citation needed] The next year he started his graduate studies in the US at theUniversity of Illinois from where he received his master's degree in 1973 and PhD in 1978. His PhD dissertation was entitled "X and UV radiation from accreting non-magnetic degenerate dwarfs"[4] and it was completed under the supervision of Donald Q. Lamb.[5]
After a short break to complete his compulsory military service in Greece, Kylafis continued his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow atCaltech (1979-1981), where he collaborated withPeter Goldreich and contributed to the discovery of the so-calledGoldreich-Kylafis effect.[6] He then moved as a member to theInstitute for Advanced Study atPrinceton (1981-1984), where he collaborated withJohn N. Bahcall on topics related to radiative transfer in dusty disk galaxies.[7] He worked for a year as an assistant professor atColumbia University in New York City, before returning as a faculty member at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete.[1] He was promoted to full professor in 1997 and served as chairman of the department as well as dean of the School of Natural Sciences. He retired in 2016 and became emeritus professor. In 2018, he was elected to the Council of theEuropean Astronomical Society, where he is currently serving as treasurer.[8] In 2019, he was awarded the outstanding teaching prize "Stelios Pichorides" by the University of Crete.[9]
In 2019, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH founded the "Nick Kylafis Lectureship"[10] in recognition of his 35 years of scientific and administrative leadership, which contributed to the creation of the Institute of Astrophysics in 2018.[11] Under the auspices of the Lectureship, one distinguished Theoretical Astrophysicist is invited annually at FORTH for a brief visit.[12]
The scientists who have been awarded the Lectureship are:
Kylafis has contributed to topics related to the production and transfer of radiation in spiral galaxies,[7] inaccretion disks aroundneutron stars andblack holes,[20] as well as in astrophysical MASERs.[21][22] His most known work is theGoldreich-Kylafis effect, which predicts that, under special conditions, thespectral lines emitted byinterstellar molecules should be linearly polarized and thelinear polarization vector should reveal themagnetic field direction in themolecular cloud.[6] Other discoveries include the empirical explanation of the physical mechanisms that take place during the accretion and ejection of mass from binary systems which include a black hole[20] and the proof that the different physical processes that take place in these systems are correlated.[23][24]
Kylafis, N.D., Bahcall, J. N., "Dust Distribution in Spiral Galaxies", 1987, ApJ, 317, 637
Xilouris, E. M.; Byun, Y. I.; Kylafis, N. D.; Paleologou, E. V.; Papamastorakis, J. "Are spiral galaxies optically thin or thick?", 1999, A&A, 344, 868
Titarchuk, L.; Mastichiadis, A.; Kylafis, N. D., "X-Ray Spectral Formation in a Converging Fluid Flow: Spherical Accretion into Black Holes", 1997 ApJ, 487, 834
Goldreich, P.; Kylafis, N. D., "On mapping the magnetic field direction in molecular clouds by polarization measurements", 1981, ApJ, 243, 75
Kylafis, N. D.; Lamb, D. Q., "X-ray and UV radiation from accreting degenerate dwarfs", 1982, ApJS, 48, 239
^"EAS Council".eas.unige.ch. Retrieved22 September 2023.
^[2020-08-06 "Αποτελέσματα Βράβευσης Εξαίρετης Πανεπιστημιακής Διδασκαλίας «Στέλιου Πηχωρίδη» για το Ακαδημαϊκό Έτος 2019-2020"]. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 6 August 2020. Retrieved9 June 2021.{{cite news}}:Check|archive-url= value (help)
