Loucas Christophorou - Biography#

Loucas G. Christophorou (Physical Sciences – Experimental Physics) was born at Pendakomo, Limassol, Cyprus in 1937. Following his basic education in Cyprus, he enrolled in the Physics Department of the University of Athens from which he obtained his BSc degree in Physics in 1960. Subsequently, he went to England for Graduate Studies at the Physics Department of the University of Manchester, from which he obtained a Diploma in Advanced Physics in 1961 and his PhD degree in 1963. In1967 the University of Manchester awarded him the Doctor of Science Degree in recognition of his then scientific accomplishments.

From 1963 to 1995 he worked at The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA as a researcher and as director of the Atomic and Molecular Radiation Physics Group. He has established many research programs in basic science, chaired the Laboratory’s Distinguished Scientist Program and headed the Laboratory’s Corporate Fellows Council for many years. For his research accomplishments and the research programs he established he was given many (10) awards and was appointed Corporate Fellow in 1981 and Senior Corporate Fellow in 1991. Since 1995 he is Senior Corporate Fellow Emeritus of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Concurrently, he was Ford Foundation Professor of Physics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville where he taught graduate and undergraduate Physics from 1964 until 1997, and directed the dissertations of 30 graduate students. He also taught and conducted research, as visiting professor, at a number of Universities, and gave invited lectures at over 130 universities and research centers in the USA, Europe and Japan.

From 1995 to 2001 he worked as Senior Research Scientist at The National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD, where he conducted basic research on electron interactions with matter and on materials for plasma and energy technologies and energy.

Since 2001 he moved to Athens, Greece, where, as Permanent Member of the Academy of Athens, is working for the promotion of science in Greece and internationally. At the Academy of Athens he is the Director of the Office of Research in Experimental Physics, Chairman of the Academy’s Energy Committee and Member of other committees. He organized the Academy’s International Conferences on Universal Values and represents the Academy at, and interacts with, the Organizations of the World Academies of Science. He is a member of the EASAC Council and its Presidium.

His research programs cover five decades and deal with Atomic and Molecular Radiation Physics, and Chemical and Electron Physics. His researches on the fundamental interactions of photons, electrons and ions with atoms and molecules have had worldwide impact and formed the basis of many technologies, foremost in radiation detection, plasma processing, gaseous dielectrics for energy transmission and distribution, and energy.

Christophorou published 380 research papers, established many research programs, was awarded 14 patents, collaborated with numerous colleagues and institutions internationally, and organized 28 scientific conferences. He published/edited 28 books, among them the following: Atomic and Molecular Radiation Physics (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1971), Electron-Molecule Interactions and Their Applications (Academic Press, New York, 1984), Place of Science in a World of Values and Facts (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York, 2001, Fundamental Electron Interactions with Plasma Processing Gases (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York, 2004) and Energy and Civilization (Academy of Athens, 2011). He served on numerous scientific committees and councils and lectured widely on science and/for society and the impact of modern science and technology on man and his values.

He is Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1974, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 1976, Senior Corporate Fellow Emeritus of Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 1995, recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Patras in 2009, corresponding Member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2011, recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award of Germany in 1991, and recipient of the Medal of The Order of Phoenix of Greece in 1997.

Christophorou was elected corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens in 1980 and Permanent Member of the Academy of Athens in the chair of Physical Sciences (Experimental Physics) in 2001.