Demetrios Eginitis

Demetrios Eginitis or Aiginitis (Δημήτριος Αιγινήτης; July 10, 1862 – March 14, 1934) was a Greek astronomer, physicist, mathematician, author, professor, dean, and politician. He replaced Demetrios Kokkidis becoming the fifth director of the National Observatory of Athens and the longest-serving director in the Observatory's history. He was one of the few Greek astronomers in modern Greek history during the 1800s, others included Georgios Konstantinos Vouris and Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt. He served as Minister of Education twice. Eginitis was born in Athens, he attended the prestigious Varvakeio School of Athens and later attended the University of Athens studying Mathematics from 1879 to 1886. He received a scholarship to study astronomy and mathematics at the Sorbonne from 1886 to 1890. While in France he wrote his world-renowned paper Sur la Stabilité du Système Solaire (On the Stability of the Solar System) and also published over one thousand astronomical observations. He returned to Greece and revived the Athens Observatory breaking it into three divisions Astronomy, Meteorology, and Geodynamics. He became a professor at the University of Athens a position he held from 1896 to 1934. He introduced the Eastern European Time Zone in Greece and the Gregorian calendar replacing the Julian calendar as the country's standard. He founded the Academy of Athens and organized the University of Thessaloniki. He was a member of the IAU Committee on Meridian Observations. Eginitis was also a member of the German Astronomical Society (Astronomische Gesellschaft), the Royal Astronomical Society in London, the French Astronomical Society (Société Astronomique de France), the Portuguese Institute of Coibra and the International Meteorological Committee (Comité Météorologique International). Eginitis received countless honors and awards throughout his life including the French medal Legion of Honour. He was born in Athens, Greece. His father's name was George. Demetri's brother was also a astrophysicist named Vasileios Aiginitis.