Special thanks

“You think you have completed one interview, or have you done so?” says Simopoulos.

“I have, I think I have an interview”.

Normally, this is the part of the movie where they hang up the phone on the journalist. Simopoulos didn’t.

He kindly said to him: “Alright I see what I can do to help you. Call me back when you are ready. I only ask for one thing. I don’t want to see the questions before we speak.”

That was Simopoulos! A sacred figure in the world of science but also a man with endless patience.

The other person on the line-the comet that fell on his head- was me.

I said this was his story because this is how I imagined him describing it to his beloved wife, Karen.

She probably said to him: “Where are you getting yourself in? Are you not tired of this anymore?”

Now I will share my side of the story. It makes “Space Odyssey” look like a simple trailer.

At that time everyone was studying for the June final exams. It was the first time we had to sit Finals, as they were suspended in the previous years due to covid. I was in Grade 9.

Despite this, I was spending nights and days doing my research on Simopoulos. I wanted to prepare myself in the best way possible to make up for the impression I had given him on the phone.

To give you an idea of the situation, my room resembled movies that portray CIA’s headquarters when they are preparing for a crucial mission. My brain was like a chaotic universe trying to comprehend information that seemed alien.

Just before falling into a black hole, I put an end to this. The only reason being the fact we had agreed on a date for the interview, and I was afraid to ask for more time.

And here we are, on the day of the interview. May 31st, 2022.

I walked into my room, drew the curtains and tried to calm myself down. Around me, the information I had gathered spread like a carpet in the form of A4 paper.

My hands were cold and sweaty.

We spoke for about an hour and 45 minutes. It was an intense but wonderful experience. I didn’t know the man and I couldn’t see him either, so I was unable to tell if he enjoyed our conversation. At the same time, I had to be alert during the duration of the phone call to meet the demands of a conversation with a scientist of his caliber.

At some point, I realized I had made him tired with my millions of questions. I suggested to him to stop and finish the interview in the next week. Before hanging up I superficially told him not to worry because there were just two A4 sheets of questions remaining.

We never finished the interview. It was already immense because every single answer he gave is like an independent book filled with knowledge.

2 days after our phone call, the exam period began.

I called him several times to learn how he was doing and to apologize for being unable to determine when we would continue our interview.

Later on, I started to worry because I couldn’t find him on the phone. He eventually told me he was in the hospital, but everything was going well. At that moment I felt that he was omnipotent.

In that same phone call, he repeated what he always said: “Don’t worry. We will talk once you are able to. I will be here for you my dear Panagiotis.”

But soon became later and eventually life had its say.

He used the word “Renaissance” to describe his friends. I also searched to find a word to describe him, and the one I chose emerged from the following incident. When Empress Irene Laskarina of Byzantium was exiled to Nicaea after the Crusades, she found herself in a discussion about Astronomy and a boy wanted to join. A courtier, underestimating him because of his age, tried to discourage him, to drive him away, and said to him: “You are excessive, arrogant with knowledge.” The empress immediately intervened, saying: “Let the child express what he feels.”
That’s how Simopoulos made me feel. He gave me the floor; he made me his interlocutor. He became my great teacher without even meeting me in person.

That’s why I feel compelled to say that: Dionisis Simopoulos was UNIVERSAL. I admired him immensely, but I loved him even more because he considered LOVE to be the greatest human value. He spoke to his wife with boundless sweetness. He showed me trust without knowing me because. No mutual acquaintance had intervened to convince him to grant this interview.

He left the line open during our phone interview, giving me access inside his house! I heard him talking with his editor, joking with his beloved Karen, and I even became an eavesdropper in the conversation he had with his granddaughter, Mary, who had just returned from school and stopped by to see him. Later, he proudly told me about her: “She scored a perfect 20 in Algebra!”

I will never forget this round 20, this geometric characterization for a perfect score that he said with so much love and pride.

The last words he told me, and everyone who knew him will feel like they are hearing him, were:

TAKE CARE!

With the description of our story, I wanted to give Simopoulos a special place within “LandingStories.”Not only to express my obvious, immense gratitude, but to also confess that without the trust he showed me, I would have never been able to turn the idea of the project into reality.

Simopoulos made me believe in my abilities and to say, as he himself used to say, “just imagine,” just imagine how far you can go when someone opens the way for you!

Also, his prestige! His prestige was a guarantee that other people would respond to my requests. I am sure they thought: “Since Simopoulos granted an interview… it will be worth it.”

Simopoulos, just before passing away, managed to benefit one more person, me. I was added to his big list, and I consider that being on that list is my life’s privilege.