National Observatory of Athens
The Observatory of Athens was founded in 1842 with a donation from the national benefactor George Sinas. The astronomical observations started in September 1846, after the completion of the central neoclassical building on the hill of Nymphs at Thiseio area, facing the Acropolis. In 1890 the Observatory was reorganized as a governmental research center with the name National Observatory of Athens, and was expanded with the addition to the Astronomical Department of two new, the Meteorological and the Seismological. In 1942 the Departments were named Institutes and in 1955 the Ionosphere Institute, was added.
Their research interests include Extragalactic Astronomy, Observational Cosmology, Interstellar Matter, X-ray Astronomy, and Binary Stars. They are currently expanding in the area of Instrumentation e.g. development of the Low Dispersion Spectrograph for the new ARISTARCHOS telescope. The Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, besides the research and educational activities, is evolved in carrying out other activities and providing services to the scientific community and for public outreach.
For more information, please visit http://www.astro.noa.gr