“Greeks who inspire us” is a new Ellinopoula interview series featuring notable Greeks from various fields whose life, achievements, and insights will be of interest to diaspora parents, and an inspiration for kids learning Greek.
Andreas Mandelis is an internationally renowned scientist and expert in Thermophotonics and Applied Photonics, a professor and researcher at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, and also the Director of the Centre for Advanced Diffusion-Wave Technologies.
Professor Mandelis, you are a world-renowned academic and pioneer in Physics and featured on the list of prominent Greek Canadians. Do you believe that going to school as a child in Greece and getting a Greek education gave you advantages in your studies in the US and Canada?
Yes, specifically I credit my high school math teacher, Dimitrios Arabatzis, for the rigor he trained his students in logical proofs formulating relationships in geometry and trigonometry. I also credit my literature teacher, Maria Delitsikou, for training students in the logic of the ancient Greek language and the value of translation into clear comprehensible, and precise modern Greek. It helped making a habit out of coherent thinking and formulating clear ideas and pathways to ideas – both essential features of scientific reasoning and correlating facts with physical insights.
During my college and graduate studies, many US fellow students in science and engineering were using empirical correlations to explain experiments. My prior training demanded I should dig deeper and create a theory based on physical foundations that fully encompasses the experimental dimension and links results to physical behavior and properties. I believe one of my lasting impacts as an applied physicist and instrumentation and measurement scientist has been creating the “theory of the experiment”.
Do you credit a large part of your academic achievements to your Greek teachers?
Yes, the confluence of two educators of mine in Greece has been guiding my professional and personal life. It turns out their methods are what is needed for scientific thought and praxis to flourish: An unbiased approach to nature and revelation of the truth through rigorous discourse and experimentation.
My math teacher, Prof. Arabatzis’s was focused on the quality of the student’s mathematics and the delivery of the proof. It became a defining part of my career and has paid excellent dividends as I always seek to recruit and surround myself with very high-quality students and research associates based only on their scientific promise, industriousness, and critical skills. Also, my history and composition teacher, Prof. Georgios Eleftherakis, was an outstanding educator who instilled pride in children for being Greek for the right reasons. He taught us the value of rational thought in Greek antiquity, as the first society to espouse the process of rational deduction, the importance of Socratic discourse to reveal the truth and abide by absolute (not ephemeral) ethics.
Greek scientists are overrepresented in scientific publications and citations Why do you think so many Greeks pursue and excel in careers in science?
The seeds are planted in some of the brightest children in high school when they become exposed to mathematics and physics, topics considered to be particularly difficult and thus a measure of prestige and excellence. I would add economics and computer science to your list of pursued careers by Greek scholars abroad, also math-intensive subjects. Judging from myself, I think the roots go back to the cultural background of Greece as the first nation to develop rigorous mathematical thought and fertile physical observation, the pursuit of which is a measure of a sound mind and a professional scientific practitioner.
You are married to a Canadian and you have 2 daughters, Alexandra and Nicole. How much is Hellenism a part of their life?
The two daughters are quite different. Alexandra is a social worker and consultant: she is focused on human behavior and life improvement for the various minorities in Canada and across the border. Her “Greekness” comes out in her interest in Greek society, and the role of the nuclear family in the life of Greeks, as opposed to more distanced family situations in North America and around the world.
Nicole is an artist/painter with enormous respect and sensitivities for Greek art. She is also a “dedicated Corfiot” as she loves the progressive culture of the island and loves coming to Greece, living the culture, practicing, and learning more Greek, enjoying the food and the sea, and goes around painting everyday themes like ornate doorways and seascapes - then she exhibits them in Toronto. Congratulations on your daughter, Nicole, recently bringing a baby girl into the world. How do you imagine her relationship with Greece to be?
The father, Kyle, loves Corfu and Greece, the Greek food. He converted to Orthodoxy to marry Nicole in Corfu. Nicole loves the Greek language and plans to teach it to the baby - Skye-Andrea - and to bring her along during visits to Greece. She will likely be baptized in Corfu. I see Skye-Andrea possessing a strong awareness of her Greek heritage in years to come and I look forward to being involved in it!
Professor Mandelis, thank you for this very interesting discussion with Ellinopoula!
Thank you!