Distinguished Figures

“Give yourself the chance to be lucky. With a vision, hard work, with love for knowledge, with

ethics and integrity”.

Stamatis Krimizis : The person who lived and formed the beginning of the Space Age.

On Friday 09/11/2018 Stamatis Krimizis – the academician and distinguished scientist visited Kalamata after being invited by Ekpedeftiria Bouga. He is the only scientist who has taken part in all missions towards all the planets, from the Mariner 4 – his first mission to Mars in 1965 (14 th July) until the mission with NewHorizons to Pluto, the mysterious dwarf planet of our Solar System (on the 14thof July 2015 NewHorizons went past Pluto at a very near distance). He talked about his experiences of half a century of hard work exploring the Solar System , but he went beyond that too – describing the vast interstellar space area to our fellow citizens and students. Specifically, in the morning he spoke to the 5 th and 6 th year students of our Primary School and to the High School and Lykeio students -(two brilliant speeches- conversations)- about his personal journey from Vrontado in Chios ,until he got to the Space Institute of John Hopkins University in America.

In Vrontado , which is well-known for its rocket war during Easter, he started to “build” his CV because of the improvised rockets which he made with his fellow students. He also talked about his various space missions, which he implemented with his co-workers at the Applied Physics Lab of John Hopkins University . Furthermore, he emphasized two things. Firstly, the value of co-operation for the success of high standard scientific programs and showed photographs with scientists of different fields of study , who he worked with during missions. Secondly, he highlighted the importance of meeting people in a scientist’s life , as they can be role models who will inspire and guide them correctly. For Stamatis Krimizis, that person was professor VanAllen at the University of Iowa, who made him co-reasearcher in his first space mission “throwing him in the deep end “ as Mr. Krimizis said.

On the same afternoon, in the amphitheatre of Kalamata’s Labour Centre, at an event organized by Ekpedeftiria Bouga and the bookstore “Vivliopolis”, the professor helped us travel to the end of our Solar System, where one of the spaceships he has constructed is . The professor advised the young people of Greece to love knowledge, to have ethics and to pursue excellence in their life. He finished his speech with his favourite poem by Konstantinos Kavafis “Thermopyles”., and was applauded by the audience.

It is remarkable that in times of financial crisis, which has stopped young people from dreaming and being ambitious, that a scientist came along to repeat advice he had heard from his professor VanAllen “Give yourself the chance to be lucky! How? With hard work, vision , love for knowledge and not for the “paper”, with ethics and integrity.” He pointed out that they should be interested in “what they know and not who they know.”