Athanasios Ch. Godelitsas was born in Arnea (Chalkidiki, Macedonia, Greece) on 9 August 1967 and is a citizen of the Municipality of Tyrnavos (Thessaly, Greece). He attended primary and secondary schools in Anavryti (Sparta, Peloponnese, Greece), Paleochori (Chalkidiki), and Arnea. He graduated from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) in 1989 with a degree in Geology and subsequently earned a PhD in Chemistry from the same university in 1995. His doctoral research was conducted within the framework of a European Union programme in collaboration with the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST, UK). From 2001 to 2004, he carried out postdoctoral research in the group of Professor Andrew Putnis at the University of Muenster (Germany). Prior to joining academia, Dr. Godelitsas completed his military service in the Hellenic Army (1996-1997) and worked as a laboratory geochemist and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Manager in international mining and metallurgical companies (1998-2001).
