Who is Themos?
I am an inquiring mix between a physicist, an engineer, a geek, and a Greek. I also happen to be the Chief Science Officer of Meta Materials, the Sherlock Holmes of light.
I’ve been the Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Meta Materials Inc. since 2011. Previously, I did research on metamaterials at Queen Mary University of London in the UK and at the University of Patras in Greece. During this time I used to host two Greek podcasts, about Physics explainers and Lost. I earned my Ph.D. in 2008 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. I studied electrical and computer engineering at the National Technical University of Athens in Greece until 2003. I was born in Lamia, a small town two hours north of Athens.
OK, but who *is* Themos?
I enjoy science and technology, food and travel, family and friends (damn you, Covid-19). You can follow me on Twitter @timaras. You can follow on Mastodon mstdn.social/@timaras. You can follow me on threads.net/@timaras.
At home, I play with gadgets, from programmable Legos to triggering smart home routines using NFC tags. I have never owned a flat screen TV as I have had projectors since 2004, around the time I built my own home theatre speakers. I read non-fiction (except Poirot) and am passionate about science communication. I currently host a Greek podcast about popularizing science, called Not a Top 10.
At work, I oversee our R&D projects around advanced materials for unusual applications relating to light and energy manipulation. It’s like having a small time machine, seeing technologies that won’t become widely available for another 3-5 years. I am motivated by impacting people’s lives in a positive way. Bringing new technologies to maturity in an affordable and sustainable way is my way of satisfying this drive.