{"id":13793,"date":"2024-06-05T07:45:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T07:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/archive\/?p=13793"},"modified":"2024-06-18T13:43:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T13:43:52","slug":"fotis-kafatos-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/about\/info\/archive\/blog\/2024\/06\/fotis-kafatos-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Fotis Kafatos Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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By Viktor Osminin, archives student assistant <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EMBL Archive and Records Management<\/a> is thrilled to celebrate the sixth International Archives Week (#IAW2024<\/a>) from June 3rd to June 9th, 2024, coinciding with the EMBL 50th Anniversary celebrations #EMBL50. The introduction of the archival collection of Fotis Kafatos, the third Director General of EMBL, to the EMBL staff and the public is the first of three blogs that will promote the importance of EMBL Archive for EMBL’s heritage, history and memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Collection overview <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Fotis Kafatos Collection<\/a> comprises a wide range of scientific, administrative, consultative and personal materials dating from 1962 to 2014. The collection includes documents from Kafatos’ influential tenure as Director General of the EMBL from 1993 to 2005, as well as his distinguished work at Harvard University<\/a>, the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology<\/a> (FORTH-IMBB) in Heraklion, Imperial College London<\/a> and the European Research Council<\/a>. The material, available in several languages including English, Greek, German, French and Italian, covers 56 linear meters and was transferred from Imperial College London to the EMBL Archive in 2015 as part of a collaborative effort involving George Christophides, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Immunity in the Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, Mehrnoosh Rayner, Head of EMBL Alumni Relations, and Anne Flore Lalo\u00eb, EMBL’s first Archivist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to the collection is generally granted for records over 30 years old and for all scientific documents. Confidential records are open to the public 50 years after creation, while sensitive records and personal correspondence are restricted for 80 years after creation. The collection has been meticulously processed and catalogued by student archivist Viktor Osminin, under the supervision of EMBL archivist and records manager Maria Papanikolaou, and provides an invaluable insight into Kafatos’ contributions to molecular biology and his leadership of several prestigious institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Negative’s collection<\/a>, Fotis Kafatos material, EMBL Archive. Photo credit: Viktor Osminin <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biographical note <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fotis Konstantine Kafatos (1940-2017) was a prominent Greek developmental biologist and a science politician. Fotis Kafatos was born in Heraklion, Crete. After finishing school, Fotis Kafatos moved to study in the U.S. using the program for gifted Greek students sponsored by French philanthropist Anne Schlumberger. At 22, Fotis Kafatos made his first publication in co-authorship with famous American ethnologist Thomas Eisner. At the age of 29, he already received a full professorship position at Harvard University and led multiple laboratory group projects around his long-term research interests: the study of malaria and developmental mechanisms of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster<\/em> and DNA cloning technology, which after became used world-wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1972, Fotis Kafatos expanded his activities into the Mediterranean region: he started to teach at the University of Athens and, a few years later, he initiated the creation of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) and associated research center (Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas-FORTH<\/a>) in his hometown, managing this institution until 1994. His activities turned Crete from an arid scientific zone into one of the top research institutions in Greece. His achievements had been noticed, and, in 1993, Fotis Kafatos was selected as the new director-general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Under his management, the institution substantially grew: for instance, two new sites were created (EMBL Rome<\/a> and EMBL-EBI Hinxton<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2005, he left EMBL due to mandatory retirement at the age of 65. Fotis Kafatos took a professorship position at Imperial College London and started actively working on his idea of pan-European scientific cooperation, which later turned into the European Research Council, where he was selected as the first President (2007-2010). In a short time, the European Research Council developed into an extremely effective scientific merit-only bottom-up grant agency: even though ERC approves just approximately 500 grants per year, their approach is highly beneficial: ERC sponsored 5 Nobel prize winners and was involved in the production of more than 40,000 academic papers. In 2014, Fotis Kafatos retired and returned to Crete, where he died due to illness three years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fotis Kafatos in his EMBL Laboratory in 1998. Photo credit: EMBL Photolab Image Library <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Scope and content of the collection <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Fotis Kafatos archival material was transferred from Imperial College London (ICL) to EMBL in 2015, through a synergy between EMBL staff and ICL Fotis Kafatos colleagues. The majority of the material relates to Kafatos’ scientific, managerial and consulting activities between 1993 and 2010. Materials from the early period of Kafatos’ career (1958-1990) are available as a separate collection within the Harvard University Archives (Fotis C. Kafatos personal archive<\/a>). The Fotis Kafatos collection at the EMBL Archive fills the gap in Kafatos’ personal collection for the years after the 1990s and is the first collection for Fotis Kafatos in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection is divided into twelve thematic series and thirty sub-series, largely following the original structure. Documents are usually organized into subject folders. Within these folders, documents are arranged chronologically. The collection consists mainly of correspondence, e-mail correspondence, facsimiles, meeting agendas, grant documentation (including drafts), reports, personal notes, and scientific papers (including drafts). The documentation is extensively annotated by Fotis Kafatos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The twelve collection series are described and presented below in the order in which they are arranged in the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n