{"id":3439,"date":"2016-12-17T19:55:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-17T17:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humanstories.gr\/en\/enas-astrofysikos-pou-ebneete-apo-to-chaos-ke-tin-ataxia\/"},"modified":"2018-03-14T11:02:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T09:02:59","slug":"enas-astrofysikos-pou-ebneete-apo-to-chaos-ke-tin-ataxia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanstories.gr\/en\/enas-astrofysikos-pou-ebneete-apo-to-chaos-ke-tin-ataxia\/","title":{"rendered":"An Astrophysicist Who Is Inspired by \u00abChaos and Disorder\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ioannis Seiradakis<\/strong> is an exceptional scientist, Professor of Astrophysics at Aristotle University in Salonika research member of the Antikithiron Machine,which is the first computer in history. He inspires respect the moment he says,\u201d Good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pictures: Dora Topalidou<\/strong> (www.brightside.gr<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Video montage: Zoe Daliana<\/strong><\/p>\n

We spend hours with him, together with photographer Dora Topalidou and Zoe Daliana who is responsible for the video. Our four-hour meeting at Noisis will also be \u201caired\u201d on the Internet. If we had not known about his research and science background, we would have thought we were speaking to our father, our teacher at school or our university professor.<\/p>\n

The humility of his character, together with his well-documented and detailed research in both astronomy and astrophysics, makes him unique! Moreover, he is always positive and willing to spread his knowledge and hope for tomorrow with a smile on his face.<\/p>\n

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Ioannis Seiradakis passes triremes and olkades like the ones that had inside them the Antikithiron Machine before sinking\u2026.<\/p><\/div>\n

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THE SIMPLEST INTERPRETATION FROM AN EXPERT \u2018\u2019WHAT EXACTLY IS THE ANTIKITHIRON MACHINE\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the beginning of our discussion, we asked Mr Seiradakis: \u201cHow can you explain the Antikithiron Machine to the average person?\u201d And his answer was informative: \u201cThe Antikithiron Machine was a computer in every sense of the word. It had an area where the user would add data. For example, the user would choose a date. While doing so, the gears involved would show various aspects of the Machine and various astronomy phenomena with indicators. For instance, it would show eclipses, full moons, and even dates when the Olympic Games would begin. In other words, it would do computations and the result was shown with the use of scientific evidence. As a result, one could make predictions. This was completely different from the instruments that were made before. Certainly a complicated machine and the manufacturer, who was apparently not a user, equipped it with a manual. To date, 3,000 letters have been found. We are now at the level of 3,400 letters. Also, words and sentences having to do with astronomy and technology are found. We also find geographical indicators.<\/p>\n

With regard to the research team of the Antikitithiron Machine , when asked which word made the biggest impression , Ioannis answered: \u201cA lot of words, for example, the word \u201csupport\u201d. If you hear the word, you will think about someone who supports someone else. However, in the language of astronomy and with the machine being an instrument of astronomy \u201csupport\u201d is the point at which the planets orbiting among the stars change their course. It is what astronomers call reverse motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cMars, for example, moves in a backward direction in relation to the stars. Occasionally, because of the rotation of the sun in relation to the earth and the rotation of Mars, it looks as if Mars moves a little to the right and later in a backward direction. The two points at which this reversal of motion happens are the support points. The part we found has to do with the support for Venus, an internal planet on Earths\u2019 orbit. Venus leaves the sun at an angle of forty-seven degrees and later returns because apparently it goes from the other side and returns to the sun on the internal side of the earth\u2019s orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ioannis Seiradakis observes all the strange and unknown things about us through a telescope at Aristotle University.<\/p>\n

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THE UNIQUE PERSONALITY OF BOTH MOTHEA AND ARCHAEOLOGIST,\u00a0MERCY MONEY – COUTTS SEIRADAKI, WHO INSPIRED BOTH HER CHILDREN TO DO RESEARCH UNSELFISHLY<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An article , a dedication from Hrisa Nanou at the Sunday Aggelioforo in 2010 for a woman symbol of our times..<\/p>\n

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Where did all this love of researching the unknown come from? Perhaps it is from the motherly presence of an important archaeologist, Mercy Money-Coutts Seiradaki. Professor of Astrophysics at Aristotle University, Ioannis Seiradakis answers movingly: \u201cWhy do you open such wounds? If only my mother were here. She never saw me work on the Antikithiron Machine because, unfortunately, she passed away a little while back. She would have helped me a lot. She really worked with Evans as an archaeologist during the excavations at Knossos. She had imbibed not only me but my sister as well an unselfish love of learning and research. We never understood if she had done anything for herself. She liked to study, to show and to learn. In the evenings, I remember her drawing pictures for her publications by using ink because there was no Photoshop or other such tools. She took us to many parts of Greece. We went to many archaeological sites with her and perhaps she instilled in us this unselfish love of researching the world around us. My mother was British, but she was a great philhellene. When she went back to England for the last time, years before she died, she told me: \u2018My child, I am not going back there. It\u2019s too cold. I like Greece\u2019.\u201d Recalls Mr Seiradakis.<\/p>\n

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Read an exceptional article by Hrisa Nanou in \u201cSunday Aggelioforo\u2019\u2019, October 10,2010.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Ioannis Seiradakis talks to the editor of \u201cHumanstories\u201d Stelios Moshoula, about \u201cchaos and disorder\u201d and about \u201clife and death\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cIN MY OPINION CHAOS IS SYNONYMOUS WITH FREEDOM\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked why he returned to Greece when he could have become a professor at the biggest universities in both England and America, he was specific: \u201cGreece itself\u2026 That is, the country, the people, the sky, the environment , the beautiful scenery and maybe its lack of organization. Do not forget that being completely organized can be boring. If someone is too organized, if they hammer the same nail day and night, if they know the bus will arrive on time, then they are indifferent to life. Not only do we have feelings that characterize us, but we also have the curiosity to search the world and its beauty and to try to understand it.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019The chaos, in my opinion, is the same as freedom. Indeed, we use the term \u201cdegree of freedom\u201d in physics. A system that has many degrees of freedom is freer and it has more solutions. In other words, it is chaotic. Let me use a technical term in physics: entropy. This is a beautiful ancient term that gives us the degree of chaos in a system.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, what is the life of a person who has seen so many different things and so many different planets like? How does such a person, after having used state-of-the-art telescopes, get back to the reality of Greece? He explains: \u201cDo not think that the life of an artist or a researcher is different. Both observe the world and try to understand it. The artist tries to portray it and the scientist tries to find its beauty and its simplicity. If there are two theories, on simple and the other complicated, then the simple one will be valid in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019What is your view on death?\u201d He responds: \u201cI do not know what happens after death. However, what scares us is not death, but the journey towards it. If death is short and painless, I do not think it will scare us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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