BELISSIMA project leader and leader of WP5:

Dr Srdjan Samurović

Dr. Samurović's research is aiming to contribute to our understanding of one of the most fundamental problems of the contemporary astrophysics and cosmology, the nature of all-pervading dark matter in the Universe. Since galaxies are the main building blocks of the Universe, Dr. Samurović has devoted most of his research to the study of dark matter in different types of galaxies: spirals (including our Milky Way) and more recently, ellipticals (for which the study of the dark matter problem is for various reasons much more complicated). The research of Dr. Samurović includes both observational and theoretical aspects: whenever possible he strives to reduce the observational data, extract the scientific information from the data and finally, to explore the acceptable models to draw the conclusions. His research includes extensive collaboration with the Astronomical Observatory and the Department of Astronomy in Trieste (Italy) where he obtained his PhD in 2004. From the beginning of 2011 he has been PI of the national project ON176021 "Visible and invisible matter in nearby galaxies: theory and observations". He is the leader of WP5 (Project Management) of the BELISSIMA project.

 

WP1: Reinforcement of the Astronomical Observatory

Leader: Dr Zoran Knežević

 

Dr. Knezević's research is mainly devoted to the investigation of dynamical and physical properties of the small solar system bodies, in particular of the asteroids. It includes computation of asteroid orbits and development of the perturbation theories to compute asteroid proper orbital elements, used to classify asteroids into families, to analyze the effects of mean motion and secular resonances and to study the long term stability of orbits. He has established a rich international collaboration, publishing papers with more than 30 scientists from 20 different countries. Especially successful collaboration Dr. Knezević has with the groups from the University of Pisa, Italy, Observatoire de Nice, France and Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece.

 

WP2: Purchase, installation and testing of new observing equipment

Leader: Dr Ištvan Vince

 

Dr. Ištvan Vince is employed at Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade since 1972, where, at present, he works as a research professor. He has taken great interest in observation of celestial bodies (e.g., eruptive stars, Solar like stars, Sun) by different observational techniques, devices (photoelectric photometers, CCD photometers, spectrometers and spectrographs) and methods (photometry, spectroscopy, and polarimetry). His experience in astronomical observations and reduction of the observational data, allowed him to teach undergraduate and graduate courses of practical astrophysics at the Department of Astronomy of University of Belgrade and at the Department of Physics of University of Novi Sad. For four semesters he was also a visiting professor at Department of Astronomy of the ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary, teaching courses of practical astronomical spectroscopy.

 

WP3: Human potential, training and public outreach

Leader: Dr Luka Č. Popović (July 2010-April 2011)

 

Dr. Popović research is aimed to contribute to deeper understanding of AGNs, with an emphases on the structure of the inner parts. He performs investigation of spectral line shape of AGNs and models the central parts of AGNs by using emission lines, i.e., describing the kinematics and structure of their central parts by using the shapes and variability of emission lines of AGNs. The basis of such investigations is the knowledge of different processes which are able to change the spectral line shapes of AGNs. His special interest is to learn more about the gravitational effect that influence spectral line shapes of AGNs.

 

 

Leader: Dr Miroslav Mićić (from April 2011)

Dr,. Mićić has graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Belgrade in 2001, and obtained his PhD at the Pennsylvania State University in 2007. Until the arrival at AOB he has been working as a research associate at the Vanderbilt University, USA, and Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, Australia. He  is an expert in astrophysical simulations, astronomical data processing and visualization of astronomical data.

 

 

WP4: Popularization of Astronomy and Science

Leader: Dr Milan M. Ćirković

Milan M. Ćirković (b. 1971) is a research professor at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, (Serbia) and an associate professor of Cosmology at Department of Physics, University of Novi Sad (Serbia). He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (USA), M.S. in Earth and Space Sciences from the same university, and his B.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Belgrade. His primary research interests are in the fields of astrobiology (anthropic principles, SETI studies, catastrophic episodes in the history of life), astrophysical cosmology (baryonic dark matter, star formation, future of the universe), as well as philosophy of science (risk analysis, observation selection effects, epistemology). He co-edited the anthology on Global Catastrophic Risks (Oxford University Press, 2008), wrote two monographs (QSO Absorption Spectroscopy and Baryonic Dark Matter, Belgrade, 2005; Introduction to Extragalactic Astronomy, Novi Sad, 2008), and translated several books, including titles by Richard P. Feynman and Sir Roger Penrose.

 

Head of Executive Project Team

Dr Milan Bogosavljević

 

Dr Bogosavljević's expertise is in optical and near-infrared observations, scientific data analysis, image processing and applications. He has worked for a number of years with the state-of-the-art imaging and spectroscopic equipment at some of the leading observatories in the world (W.M. Keck Observatory, Mt. Palomar Observatory), developing data analysis algorithms and software. He also worked on the creation of the worlds largest representation of an actual astronomical survey image : "The Griffith Big Picture" - a 2.46-gigapixel, 152 feet wide by 20 feet high image containing millions of stars and galaxies, on permanent exhibit in the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA.