Nikolaos Kylafis ( el, Νικόλαος Κυλάφης) is a Greek Theoretical Astrophysicist, who is professor emeritus at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete, Greece. Kylafis contributed to the founding of the Astrophysics Group of the University of Crete and the Foundation 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. He has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Physics since 1985. He has published research works in refereed journals.

Education

Nikolaos (Nick) Kylafis was born in Nea Avorani, Greece, on 1 January 1949, where he grew up. In 1966 he was admitted at the Department of Physics of the University of Patras and graduated in 1971. The next year he started his graduate studies in the US at the University 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" and it was completed under the supervision of Donald Q. Lamb.

Academic career

After a short break to complete his compulsory military service in Greece, Kylafis continued his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech (1979-1981), where he collaborated with

Peter Goldreich Peter Goldreich (born July 14, 1939) is an American astrophysicist whose research focuses on celestial mechanics, planetary rings, helioseismology and neutron stars. He is the Lee DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics at Cal ...

and contributed to the discovery of the so-called

Goldreich-Kylafis effect The Goldreich-Kylafis (GK) effect is a quantum mechanical effect with applications in Astrophysics. The theoretical background of the work was published by Peter Goldreich and - his postdoc at the time - Nick Kylafis in a series of two papers in ...

. He then moved as a member to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1981-1984), where he collaborated with

John N. Bahcall John Norris Bahcall (December 30, 1934 – August 17, 2005) was an American astrophysicist, best known for his contributions to the solar neutrino problem, the development of the Hubble Space Telescope and for his leadership and development of th ...

on topics related to radiative transfer in dusty disk galaxies. He worked for a year as an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York City, before returning as a faculty member at the Department of Physics of the University of Crete. 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 the European Astronomical Society, where he is currently serving as treasurer. In 2019, he was awarded the outstanding teaching prize "Stelios Pichorides" by the University of Crete.

Academic recognition

In 2019, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH founded the "Nick Kylafis Lectureship" in recognition of his 35 years of scientific and administrative leadership, which contributed to the creation of the Institute of Astrophysics in 2018. Under the auspices of the Lectureship, one distinguished Theoretical Astrophysicist is invited annually at FORTH for a brief visit. The scientists who have been awarded the Lectureship are: * 2019, Rashid Sunyaev, Director Emeritus at the

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) is a research institute located in Garching, just north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is one of many scientific research institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society. The MPA is widely conside ...

, Germany * 2020,

Joseph Silk Joseph Ivor Silk FRS (born 3 December 1942) is a British-American astrophysicist. He was the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at the University of Oxford from 1999 to September 2011. He is an Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford and a Fellow ...

, Professor Emeritus at University of Oxford, UK * 2021, Ewine van Dishoeck, Professor at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, The Netherlands * 2022,

Françoise Combes Françoise Combes (; born 12 August 1952) is a French astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory and a professor at the Collège de France where she has been the chair of Galaxies and cosmology since 2014. On 15 September 2017 the 'City of Succes ...

, Chair of Galaxies and Cosmology at Collège de France and Astronomer, Classe Exceptionnelle, at

Observatoire de Paris The Paris Observatory (french: Observatoire de Paris ), a research institution of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is the foremost astronomical observatory of France, and one of the largest astronomical centers in the world. Its histor ...

, France * 2023,

Steven Balbus Steven Andrew Balbus FRS (born 23 November 1953) is an American-born astrophysicist who is the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford. In 2013, he shared the Shaw Prize fo ...

, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford, UK

Scientific contributions

Kylafis has contributed to topics related to the production and transfer of radiation in spiral galaxies, in accretion disks around neutron stars and

black holes A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can def ...

, as well as in astrophysical MASERs. His most known work is the

, which predicts that, under special conditions, the spectral lines emitted by

interstellar molecules This is a list of molecules that have been detected in the interstellar medium and circumstellar envelopes, grouped by the number of component atoms. The chemical formula is listed for each detected compound, along with any ionized form that has ...

should be linearly polarized and the linear polarization vector should reveal the

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

direction in the molecular cloud. 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 and the proof that the different physical processes that take place in these systems are correlated.

Selected publications

* 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kylafis, Nikolaos Greek astrophysicists Academic staff of the University of Crete People from Aetolia-Acarnania 1949 births Living people California Institute of Technology fellows University of Patras alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty