Ioannis Theofanidis ( el, Ιωάννης Θεοφανίδης) was a Greek

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

officer and scholar. After studies in the Hellenic Navy Academy, Theofanidis served during the

Greco-Turkish War of 1897 The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War ( el, Ατυχής πόλεμος, Atychis polemos), was a w ...

and the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

(where he was adjutant to the Greek fleet commander,

Pavlos Kountouriotis Pavlos Kountouriotis ( el, Παύλος Κουντουριώτης; 9 April 1855 – 22 August 1935) was a Greek rear admiral during the Balkan Wars, regent, and the first President of the Second Hellenic Republic. In total he served four times ...

), finally retiring as a Rear Admiral in 1923. Having taught history in the Navy Academy, Theofanidis dedicated himself to historical research thereafter, editing publishing the archives of his wife's great-great-grandfather, the hero of the Greek Revolution

Theodoros Kolokotronis Theodoros Kolokotronis ( el, Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης; 3 April 1770 – 4 February 1843) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotronis's g ...

, studies on the history of the Greek Navy in the periods 1824–26 (''Ο Αγών της Ανεξαρτησίας, Ιστορία του ελληνικού ναυτικού. Σεπτέμβριος 1824 - Απρίλιος 1826: Νεόκαστρον-Καφηρεύς-Αλεξάνδρεια-Μεσολόγγιον'', 1932) and 1909–13 (''Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Ναυτικού 1909-1913: μετ'εικόνων και χαρτών'', 1923), on the downfall of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

after the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

(''Η Πτώσις του Ναπολέοντος: η γαλλική Βουλή μετά το Βατερλώ-"Βελερεφόντης"-"Νορθούμπερλαντ"-Αγία Ελένη'', 1933) and on his campaign in Syria against

Sir Sidney Smith Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith (21 June 176426 May 1840) was a British naval and intelligence officer. Serving in the American and French revolutionary wars and Napoleonic Wars, he rose to the rank of Admiral. Smith was known for his of ...

(''Ναπολέων - Σερ Σίδνεϋ Σμιθ'', 1929). In the 1920s he came across and became obsessed with the study of the

Antikythera mechanism The Antikythera mechanism ( ) is an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest example of an analogue computer used to predict astronomy, astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. It could also be ...

, selling off family property to finance his research into reconstructing a model of the device. He published a first set of his findings in 1934, but most of his work remained unpublished and unknown after his death. With his wife, Aikaterini Ioannidou, he had two children, a daughter Elli and a son, Iason, who also became a naval officer.

References

19th-century births 1930s deaths Hellenic Navy admirals 20th-century Greek historians Historians of science {{Greece-mil-bio-stub