Nikolaos Flevaris

Nikos Flevaris, a physics professor in Physics Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki died on Saturday morning 25/04/2015 after fighting for 26 years with multiple sclerosis. Wishing him a peaceful journey, here are a few words about him:

Nikos Flevaris was born on July 11, 1953 in Achladokampos, a small mountain village in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. After finishing high school at the nearby city of Argos, he was admitted (in 1971) at the Physics Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where he graduated in 1975. His unceasing character and scientific curiosity led him to continue with MSc studies at University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, from September 1976 till 1978. Then he moved to Materials Science and Engineering Department of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA where he completed his PhD in 1983. His thesis dissertation was “Magnetic, Electronic and Transport Properties of Compositionally Modulated Systems” and was supervised by Professor J.E. Hilliard. The term “Compositionally Modulated Systems” is actually a premature notation for ‘multilayers’. He was one of the pioneers of magnetic multilayers in his department and worldwide and many of the predictions drawn in his thesis were subsequently proven right. His main contribution in physics during his PhD was the early studies of magnetization and anisotropy in magnetic multilayers of Cu/Ni and Pd/Ni and the interpretation of the observed phenomena in terms of an oscillatory indirect exchange-induced distribution which, depending on the thickness of magnetic and non-magnetic layers, may have an antiferromagnetic-like character. After completion of PhD studies he decided to return to Greece and fulfill his military service. His academic career initiated by his election as lecturer in Physics Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1985 and completed in 2013 as a full professor (1996-2013 full professor) when he had to retire due to health reasons. In 1989 he married with Maria Lieber (MSc. in Physics and Technology of Materials) and in 1998 they gave birth to their twin children, Kostis and Theodoris. Since 1990 he set up a research group (http://multigr.physics.auth.gr ) and with the aid of EU and regional financial support he managed to establish a magnetic multilayer laboratory still going on. His scientific interests included materials growth and characterization at the nanoscale level (structural, magnetic, electric, optic) focusing on compositionally modulated systems, thermodynamics of elastical-magnetic properties and phase transformations, electronic structure modeling via coherent-potential approximation. Three PhD theses were successfully completed under his supervision, while more than 15 MSc theses were also guided by him. His three PhD students, currently staff members in different universities, on the occasion of his 60th Birthday (2013) decided to publish a special issue on Surfaces, Interfaces and Modern Trends on Magnetic Materials (J. Surf. Interfac. Mater. 2, 1–3, 2014), where many of his former colleagues happily accepted to contribute. His work includes about 100 papers in peer review journals and many invited talks and participations in conferences. Last but not least, Nikos Flevaris as a a teacher and supervisor was motivating his students and was providing them with intriguing problems of Physics and Materials Science enabling them to develop scientific open-minded thinking always mentioning his favorite motto “Expect the unexpected”.