Stavros Katsanevas RIP (1953-2022)

We have all been deeply saddened by the death of Stavros Katsanevas last Sunday, 27 November 2022. As we all know, Stavros was the chair of the International Scientific Committee of AstroCeNT. What is perhaps less known is that he was also one of the two main architects of the AstroCeNT project. He was extremely supportive of it from the early days when we discussed the concept of the initiative back in 2016 to the last days of his life. Despite his many other duties and growing health problems, he always found time for AstroCeNT, always being helpful and selfless. I personally, and we all, owe him enormously.

Stavros was also one of the founding fathers of particle astrophysics in Europe. I have known him for over 30 years, when we first met at CERN, and we have become personal friends and collaborators in various initiatives and coordination actions in particle astrophysics in Europe, many of which he led, in particular the European ILIAS and ASPERA programs, which led to the creation of the European Astroparticle Consortium (APPEC) aimed at developing a common roadmap for the field in Europe. Stavros held several positions of high responsibility. He was a Deputy Scientific Director of IN2P3 (2002-2012) and one of the founders and a director (2014-2017) of the laboratory AstroParticule et Cosmologie (APC), the strategic partner of AstroCeNT. From 2018 he was of the director of European Gravitation Observatory, the post he was going to retire from at the end of December.

Personally, Stavros was an exceptionally nice and positively thinking person, very bright and open-minded, with a very wide spectrum of interests, not only in particle astrophysics, but also in science in general, and beyond, in art, society, philosophy, and even theology. He was a visionary for the field, tirelessly driven by passion for research, until the end.

I was aware about his health problems for years, particularly in recent weeks, but still the news of his departure was to me a great shock. We have lost an exceptional scientist, person and friend.

Leszek Roszkowski,
head of IRA AstroCeNT

Photo: EGO