Greek Scientist to Test Einstein’s Theory

Scientist Dimitrios Psaltis, member of the Greek Diaspora in the United States and professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Arizona, played a key role in the a project involving the new Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which aims to pull the first images from the perimeter of the black hole in the center of our galaxy, as well as black holes in other galaxies. This will be the ultimate “test” to verify Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

In an interview with ANA-MPA, the professor noted that he and his colleagues had developed the test that the EHT telescope will perform. The telescope’s first observations of the black holes are expected in early 2017. In fact, Psaltis noted that the study of black holes with the new telescope might even lead to a modification of Einstein’s theory.

The EHT consists of several radio telescopes, covering the entire Earth, providing observation stations from the island of Hawaii to the French Alps and from the mountains of Arizona to the South Pole. When combined into a supercomputer, all these radio telescopes will work as a virtual single telescope as large as the Earth.

Dimitris Psaltis was born in Serres in 1970 and studied physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He did his master’s degree at the University of Illinois and was a postdoctoral student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MIT and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.

Since 2003 he teaches at the University of Arizona, where he is a Professor of Astronomy and Physics. His research focused on Einstein’s general theory of relativity on a cosmic scale, mainly studying black holes and neutron stars.