Petros Serghiou Florides

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Petros Serghiou Florides (16 February 1937 – 30 October 2023) was a Greek Cypriot mathematical physicist known for his work in relativity and gravitation. He was born in Lapithos, Cyprus. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of London in 1958 and a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London in 1960, on "Problems in Relativity Theory and Relativistic Cosmology" under William McCrea. After a postdoctoral stint with John L. Synge at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, he joined Trinity College Dublin in 1962, where he spent more than four decades, rising to senior fellow and pro-chancellor. He received a Master of Arts in 1964 (juri officii).

Florides held several important roles in academia: he was a member of the Reviewing Body of Mathematical Reviews (1963–1980); helped with the establishment of the University of Cyprus (1988–1992); chaired the Mathematics and Statistics Department selection committee at the University of Cyprus (1990–1996); chaired the peer review group for Greece’s first Quality Assessment of higher education institutions (1995); and chaired the Local Organising Committee of the 17th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation in Dublin (2001–2004). He was a life member of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society since 1963, and a patron (and past president) of the Irish Hellenic Society. He served as pro-chancellor of Trinity College Dublin from 2010 to 2012. In 2012 he edited a book on Edward Hutchinson Synge with Denis Weaire and John F. Donegan.

Florides died in Athens, Greece, on 30 October 2023, at the age of 86.