ZTF Faces

Georgios Dimitriadis

Postdoctoral fellow at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Where was your starting point and how did you discover astronomy?

I was born in a small city in north-east Greece called Xanthi. My parents bought me a small toy telescope when I was 7 years old. This was followed by several books and documentaries about astronomy and space. After finishing my bachelor’s degree in Physics Thessaloniki in Greece, I knew I would try to pursue a proper career as an astronomer.

I moved to the Netherlands for a MSc degree at the University of Amsterdam. I completed my PhD in the University of Southampton, in UK, under the supervision of Prof. Mark Sullivan. After 3 years in the University of California, in Santa Cruz, I started a postdoc in Trinity College Dublin, working with Prof. Kate Maguire. I was fortunate to be involved in transient astrophysics since my time in the Netherlands, a subject that I still am fascinated with. After moving to Dublin, I became involved with ZTF as a member of Kate’s group.

What are you playing with in the ZTF playground?

Within the ZTF collaboration, I work on the diversity in the thermonuclear supernova family. ZTF, with the unprecedented amount of data it produces, provides an excellent opportunity to discover and study unique and rare events.

Where do you want to steer your rocket in the future?

The future of transient astronomy looks particularly promising, and I hope I can be a part of it in the future, both as a researcher and as a teacher.

If you were not an astronomer, what would you be?

While realistically I would be a physics teacher in Greece, I would love to be a film critic!

A book that shook your worldview?

Z by Vassilis Vassilikos (with an excellent film adaptation by Costa Gavras)

If you’ve had a bad day at work, you will….

After a bad day at work, a pint of Guinness with friends and a nice movie afterwards will do the trick.