Prof. George Vlahakis

Biographical Note

George Vlahakis is associate professor of History of Science and Philosophy, School of Humanities, Hellenic Open University. He is Director of the M.Sc. Program “Science Communication”. His research focuses on the intersection science and politics in Greece during the 20th century. George is especially interested on the ways scientists of left ideology have been treated in Greece after WWII. He has studied expensively the case of the physicist Achilles Papapetrou. He currently studies the relationship of the former Queen Frederica with the famous theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg and the status of science during the period of the military junta in Greece. George is member of several academic societies and organizations. He is President of the Commission for Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST; Secretary of the History of Physics Group/European Physical Society; Correspondent member of the International Academy of the History of Sciences. He has published a large number of papers and books in English and Greek and has organized and participated in many national and international Conferences.

Research Interests

  • History of Science in Greece (18th-19th century)
  • Science and Literature
  • Science in the Public Sphere
  • Science and Religion
  • Science and Politics


publications

  • Vlahakis, George. Oceanography but not as a profession: The development of Oceanography in Greece before World War II, Earth Sciences History, vol.17(1), pp. 32-40.
  • Vlahakis, George. “Introducing sciences in the new states: The establishment of the Physics and Chemistry Laboratories in the University of Athens,” in Science, Technology and the 19th century State, edited by Eft. Nicolaidis and Konst. Chatzis, Athens, 2000, pp. 89-106.
  • Karas, Yannis and George N. Vlahakis, Sciences in the southeastern Europe during the 19th century, Programme of History and Philosophy of Science, CNR/NHRF, Athens, 2004.
  • Vlahakis, George (ed). Imperialism and Science ABC-CLIO, USA , 2006.
  • Vlahakis, George N. Philosophy is the knowledge of things Divine and Human. Exploring the Divine Logos in the milieu of Science during the Greek 18th century, Almagest,1 (1), 2010.
  • Vlahakis, George and Costas Tampakis) “Merchants, scientists and artists – Scientific families as agents within the early modern Greek intellectual field”, in Domesticity in the Making of Modern Science, McMillan 2015, pp.175-191.
  • Vlahakis, George, Efthymios Nicolaidis, Nikos Livanos, Evi Deli and Kostas Tampakis, Science and Orthodox Christianity: An Overview, ISIS, Volume 107, Number 3 | September 2016, 542-566.
  • Vlahakis, George. Der Kalte Krieg in der Peripherie Griechische Physiker und Atomenergie nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, in Physik im Kalten Krieg, Beiträge zur Physikgeschichte während des Ost-West-Konflikts, Herausgeber: Forstner, Christian, Hoffmann, Dieter (Hrsg.), Springer, 2013.
  • Vlahakis, George and P. Lazos), “Instruments and Laboratories in the Schools of the Greek Community of Istanbul, 1850–1960.”, Scientific Instruments between East and West, Brill, 2019, 168-186