BRIEF HISTORY

The Department traces its history to the establishment of the University, the School of Philosophy and the Chair of Natural History in 1839. The first Earth‐scientific subjects offered at that time were Geology and Mineralogy. The Laboratory and Museum of Mineralogy were added in 1896.

In 1904 the School of Physics and Mathematics splintered from the School of Philosophy, to accommodate the ever and fast growing Natural Sciences. As part of that major re‐organization, the Chair of Geology and Palaeontology and the homonymous Laboratory and Museum were established in 1906. By 1922, the Chair of Geography had also been instituted, followed by the Laboratory of Seismology (1929), the Chairs of Seismology, Crystallography and Physical Geography (1931) and the Laboratory of Physical Geography (1931).

In 1935, a major restructuring of the School led to the establishment of the Department of Natural Sciences, which would thenceforth include all subjects of Earth Sciences. This was   expanded   with   the   establishment   of   the   Chair   and Laboratory of Ore Geology in 1961, but only lived until 1970, when it was split into the Faculties of Biology and Geology.

The modern Department was thus born and, following the major restructuring of the Hellenic academic system in year 1982, assumed its contemporary structure with the inclusion of the Laboratory of Climatology.

Thereafter, it continued to develop and expand by modernizing the older, and establishing new academic units to accommodate the cascading development of Earth and Earth Observation Sciences (e.g. the Laboratory of Remote Sensing in 1990, the Laboratory  of  Geophysics  in  1999,  the  Natural  Hazards Laboratory in 2003 etc.).

The Department of Geology changed its name to “Department of Geology and Geoenvironment” in year 2004, in order to declare and establish its ever growing interest and involvement in basic and applied research concerning contemporary environmental problems.