Greek Student from Thessaloniki Joins NASA Research Team

Menelaos Raptis earned a full scholarship to the top-ranked Franklin & Marshall College of Astrophysics.

He excelled in his first semester and was even selected to join a NASA research team. Menelaos Raptis from Thessaloniki, speaking to the Athens/Macedonian News Agency, described his new duties analyzing the tons of data from the new James Webb Space Telescope.

“I am honoured and delighted to now be part of the NASA research team that will analyse the data from the James Webb Space Telescope,” he says enthusiastically, explaining that this is the most impressive and one of the greatest modern achievements in space, a space telescope launched in December 2021, giving humanity the most beautiful window on the magic of space.
Franklin & Marshall College, as he points out, offered him from the first academic semester a plethora of skills, while cultivating his abilities to a very high degree, preparing him for something truly amazing.

“In collaboration with a professor from the Astronomy and Physics department of the college, I prepared myself for quite difficult and demanding challenges, mainly in programming but also in astrophysics,” he notes and explains that, “the pre-existing basic knowledge I had in programming and specifically in the Python programming language, was greatly enhanced, directing me from my existing knowledge towards improvement and enrichment. After this challenging training, the professor in charge considered me not only competent but also the ideal student to be given the opportunity to analyze space data, with the professor in charge. I will not hide that during my first academic semester, I demonstrated perseverance, patience, and above all passion! I am convinced that this love for research, innovation, and science is what set me apart, what gave me the ticket to a dream come true.”

(Material from the ANA/MPA article by Alexandra Hadjigeorgiou was used above)

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