Chapter 11

11. Dissertation and conferment ceremony

At the beginning of 1986 I was elected chairman of the Economics Association in Uppsala. I didn't really want to be chairman, but I was forced by my student friends. I didn't have much time for the chairmanship then because at the end of May 1986 I was going to defend my thesis.

The thesis was basically finished, but it needed a language review. And Barbara helped! I remember the argument between Barbara and my new supervisor Bengt-Christer Ysander about correct English. Bengt-Christer did not like Barbara's American formulations and insisted that I stick to correct English. Barbara was naturally annoyed when a Swedish professor, whose mother tongue was not English, corrected her. She protested and told him that she had excellent school grades in English. Sometimes I felt powerless and tried to compromise. Going against the supervisor's way of expressing himself, was not good, even if I agreed with Barbara for the most part.

While I was cleaning up the dissertation, I also took some driving lessons. I wanted to get a driver's license and give myself a used car as a gift. I started with the lessons early in the spring. I passed the driving test and a month later I bought my first car, a used SAAB 99, a four-years old model.

Chernobyl nuclear accident

At the end of April, a few days before I was about to nail down my doctoral thesis at university information desk, a serious nuclear accident occurred in Chernobyl. On Sunday, April 27, a radioactive cloud passed over Sweden and the radioactivity was detected on Monday morning by measuring equipment at Forsmark's nuclear power plant. I remember that it rained a little that day when I went to HMC. About half an hour after I got into my room, all the sirens suddenly sounded over Uppsala and all the front doors at HMC were closed. No one was to leave the building and we were encouraged to listen to Radio Uppland for more information. Of course, all lectures were cancelled and everyone was really scared.

The radio that broadcast news all the time informed that Forsmark had detected an elevated level of radioactivity and even though they had gone through all the radiation tracking systems several times, all reactors of Forsmark's were working as they should. After an hour or so, the Swedish Meteorology Institute announced that the winds had come from the southeast for the last day or so. Then Forsmark concluded that something must have happened in the Soviet Union. They contacted the Soviet authorities, who denied everything at first. But a couple of days later, they were forced to talk about the accident but not about the accurate disaster. Presumably, they waited with the recognition so as not to disturb the celebration of May Day in the USSR.

Barbara told me that her mother called from the United States later in the day because she was very worried. She saw the headlines in some evening newspapers reporting that hundreds of people had fallen ill with radiation and sought emergency care at Uppsala University Hospital! She wondered if it was true, if we had found a shelter to sleep, if there were food and water there, if we had been given iodine tablets, etc. Barbara assured her that so far nothing serious had happened in Sweden.

Even my parents called me because they had just bought a plane ticket to get to my dissertation, and wondered if it would be as planned and if it would be dangerous for them to come to Uppsala at all. Forsmark in Uppsala had become known all over the world. I calmed them down and they decided to come.

Two Greek students who studied geology at the university said that the whole class had to choose either to write an exam that would take place in early May, or to go out into the woods in the Gävle area, which has received the most radioactivity, with protective equipment and instruments to measure the cesium level. If they were in the field for a week, they would pass the course. And almost everyone chose it to avoid the exam. 

Weeks before the public defense

Everything was finished with the thesis, but of course I felt very anxious. What if I couldn't handle the pressure! What would happen to the planned party and to my parents who had hoped to be present at the actual public defense and the conferment ceremony in the University Auditorium? 

To relax, I used to drive for a few hours around Uppland region and sometimes all the way up to Forsmark. I often took smaller country roads. The fields had turned green; it was quite warm and sunny. The fact that the car lacked air conditioning was not a problem. Instead, I breathed fresh and lovely air as I wove down my window.

Two days before the dissertation, I went to Arlanda to pick up my parents. They arrived late in the afternoon. It was of course bright and quite warm. They liked the beautiful nature on the way to Uppsala and couldn't believe that it was so hot. The last time they were in Sweden, they had experienced extremely cold and dark days. Now it was warm and bright nights instead. Even though I had told them not to bring warm clothes, my mother took a thick coat anyway.

After dinner we sat and talked until 11 o'clock. But since my mother's own clock showed 12 o'clock, she wondered when it would be dark to go to bed. I explained to her that she can go to bed in my bedroom because in a few hours the sun would rise. "How can you sleep when it's so bright?" she asked. While she waited for darkness, she became sleepy and went to bed. Dad and I talked a little more about the thesis and the process and went to bed after midnight.

At 4 o'clock in the morning my mother came to the living room and woke me up. She thought that the clock had stopped and that I had to get up because I had some practical errands at the university in the morning. She tried to wake up my dad too, who refused to get up because it was early and the time was right.

I tried to explain to her that there was nothing wrong with the clock, and I had told her that there is a lot of light so early in the morning. I asked her to go back to sleep. But it didn't work. The birds were chirping all the time and the light was so bright. She couldn't sleep anymore and went to the kitchen instead. She made some coffee and afterwards she started cleaning and washing dishes. I couldn't sleep anymore because of all the noise from the kitchen. Both my father and I got up and didn't know what to do.

An hour later we decided to go out into the beautiful nature. We took a short walk around the university campus. It was quiet and hardly anyone was visible. On the lawn there were some hares grazing without caring about us. But they were scared and walked a little further away when mom screamed with joy "look, hares in the middle of the town!"

I don't need to tell you that we were so tired this day and I had a lot of errands to do, such as about the dissertation dinner. We went to bed quite early, neither the light nor the birds bothered us. But before we went to bed, I repeated to my mom not to get up so early again.

Both parents woke up early anyway, they had slept enough and sat quietly in the kitchen until I woke up. They woke me up because the doorbell rang. It was a guy who wanted to hand over a bouquet of flowers with good wishes that Margaret had sent! It was a good start to the day. However, my mom wondered why the guy came so early to hand over the flowers. Maybe he should wait a few hours until I'm done with my dissertation, she thought. 

Dissertation day

The dissertation was to take place in the morning and we started to get ready. Mom wore her nice dress and high heels, while me and Dad wore our elegant suits and ties. I lived so close to HMC and it would take a few minutes to walk. But instead, it took fifteen minutes, because Mom's elegant shoes squeezed her feet. Anyway, we arrived at least half an hour early. I introduced my parents to everyone at the department and then we went to the hall so that they could get a good seat.

Christopher was with them and would help them with interpretation and everything else. Afterwards, people streamed into the hall, and at 9.00 a.m. the opponent, almost the entire department, as well as the grading committee, arrived. I sat in a table in one corner and the opponent in the other corner. We waited until 9.15 for the process to start. It is a tradition in Uppsala to have an academic quarter. That quarter was one of the most mentally pressing and longer I've experienced, even though there were many positive looks among the audience that tried to calm me down.

Bengt-Christer opened the public defense and after he introduced the opponent, the examining committee and me, he explained the process. Since there was nothing important that I could bring up before we started, the opponent was given the floor. He was from Stockholm and he knew me. He started straight and thought it was an exciting thesis he had the honor of opposing himself, not because it was about the importance of Swedish inventions for the country's growth, a matter close to his heart, but because it was written by a Greek! When I heard that, all the nervousness I've had the last few days was released. At the same time, I looked at Christopher who probably whispered something positive to my mother, and Barbara who showed a thumbs up.

The opponent first went through the entire thesis in an hour or so, before it was time for some questions. If I remember correctly, he asked five or six questions. But none of the questions were that difficult to answer. All of them were of a technical nature. If, for example, the patent statistics I had used were a good measure or had over- or underestimated the effects, if I was sure that I had included all the important innovations and the like, or if the causality method I used was good enough to prove that it was the inventions that came first and then led to economic growth.

I was prepared for three or four of the questions. When I drove around Uppland a few weeks earlier, I thought about how I would answer if I was asked such questions. I used the same tactics as when I was training for the Stockholm Marathon. I could tell that he was satisfied with my answers.

At the end he asked a question that I had not expected. He wondered if I should continue in the same area or do something else. I answered immediately, without thinking. I said that what I wanted to show with my patent statistics, I did, and my statistics cannot be used for anything more. Probably I would continue with this topic, but first I need to really relax before I decide. Both he and almost everyone in the room smiled. Since no one else had other questions to ask, he came towards me and congratulated, while my friends captured this historic moment with their cameras.

Then everyone was queuing up to congratulate me and I noticed that both my parents had tears in their eyes. The dad said something like, "It was worth every dollar I sent to you" and I got shivers all over my body. Then we went up to the conference room where the secretaries had prepared some drinks and we waited for the examining committee's decision. After a short meeting, Bengt-Christer came in and announced that everyone on the examining committee agreed and congratulated me. We toasted and talked a bit, before it was time to go and have lunch with the professors, the opponent, and the examining committee. The parents went home with Christopher and Barbara. They wanted to get some rest to cope with the big dissertation dinner that would take place a few hours later.

It is a tradition in Uppsala that the new doctor invites many people to a dissertation dinner. It was the same for me. Of course, I invited everyone I knew from the department, some friends, and my cousin Dimitris. Christopher, who sometimes worked as a waiter, recommended Rackarbacken, a cozy Greek restaurant that was known in Uppsala for the good food and the pleasant environment., very closed to HMC. But since the area out on the porch was not large enough, I invited about 60-70 people. My cousin sat next to my parents to talk and interpret for them. They hadn't seen each other for more than a decade, that is, since the summer we met up in the mountains. Mom liked it quite well when the cousin talked and interpreted all the time.

The atmosphere was wonderful; it was warm and bright. Christopher and a student of mine were two of four waiters. We had a fantastic three-course dinner, with fine Greek wine and Greek instrumental melodies could be heard in the background. Then it was time for the presents. Since my dissertation was about "Schumpeter's theory", a well-known Austrian economist who is considered the nestor of innovation theory and entrepreneurship, Bentzel, who had a good sense of humor, thought that a gift from Schumpeter would be a great fit. He began by telling me that a few hours ago he received a telegram from heaven, sent by Schumpeter, congratulating me on having lifted him to this wonderful place he was! The telegram also said that Bentzel had been ordered by Schumpeter to offer me his thick book "A History of Economic Analysis". Of course, everyone appreciated and applauded Benztel's fine speech.

Then it was time for me to give a short speech. After thanking everyone who participated in this special day, I talked a little about myself. I told them that when I was in high school in Amfilochia, I didn't think that one day I would become a doctor of economics in Sweden. In fact, it was my cousin's and father's merit that it turned out that way. I emphasized that my father's strict upbringing to invest in education instead of football and his generous funding played the most important role. And immediately after I said that it was my dad's fault that I didn't become a football player! Everyone laughed out loud. Then I mentioned that my dear cousin, who is sitting next to my mother and interpreting for her right now, had advised me not to come to Sweden and since I am a very stubborn, I came here! I remember my cousin's reaction when he heard it and at the same time tried to interpret it. Christopher took a photo then and you can see my cousin gesturing with his hands while my mom laughs.

There was no dance floor there and the secretaries thought we could move to the conference room in HMC. It was almost midnight when we left the restaurant. Many went home, including my parents, while we younger ones continued the party in HMC. There was some booze and we danced Greek Zorba dances until three o'clock in the morning.

The next day, all the new doctors were to attend the trial ceremony at the auditorium, ahead of the conferment ceremony that was to take place in two days. It was lucky that the audition ceremony was in the afternoon, as I woke up at lunchtime. There we got to practice how to walk along the stairs, where to sit in the auditorium and how to go to the podium to get our diploma from the Minister of Education.

Conferment Day

Conferment Day is very solemn in Uppsala and the tradition is at least 200 years old. Already at 7 a.m., a cannon salute was fired at Uppsala Castle to celebrate those who had completed their doctorates at the university. They want to wake up the city to pay tribute to the new doctors, as a badge of honor for them. And at 8 o'clock the big cathedral bell rang. 

The University Lobby opened at 11.30 a.m. Among the audience were my parents together with Christopher and Barbara. At 11.45 a.m., everyone who was to participate in the academic procession was gathered at the galleries of the University Hall, and the entrance procession began at 12 noon. In connection with that, even more cannon shots were fired. All the men wore tailcoats and the women wore long dresses.

The ceremony itself with speeches and music would take about 3 hours, since there were so many who were conferred that year. I was a little worried if my mother would be able to sit still for so long. But it went well. My mother told me afterwards that my father was touched when they called my name and I received my doctor's wreath and the diploma. Afterwards, outside the university building, a lot of photographs were of course taken with our loved ones. During the summer, my sister told me that our parents talked for hours about the glamorous ceremony and how elegant everyone was in the auditorium.

The festivities continued during the evening with a superb dinner and dancing in the Hall of State at Uppsala Castle. I remember leaving the castle with my friend Jonas Agell, who also became a doctor the same week as me, at 4 in the morning. A couple of hours later, my mom woke up and she kept quiet in the kitchen. I woke up at 11 o'clock without being disturbed and wondered what they were doing while I was sleeping. She told me that they went out on the town for a couple of hours so as not to disturb me.

Sightseeing in Stockholm

A few days later we went to Stockholm for some sightseeing. I first showed them Palme's murder scene and his grave. Then we went to the Royal Palace as my mother had wished. We walked around to the Reception Apartments and the Treasury. She was enchanted by what she saw and stopped everywhere to admire the elegance and art. She kept asking me about everything that was there, as if I knew it!

She was most fascinated by the Treasury and did not complain even though she had to go down into the dim cellar vault. And suddenly she remembered the beautiful pictures from the king's wedding that she saw in the weekly magazine about 10 years ago and asked what crown the queen had at the time. I didn't know that and just pointed to one of them. I don't think she was happy with the answer and she was going to check the weekly magazine when she returned to Greece. She was sure she had saved it! On the way out, she bought an elegant gold chain with a crown miniature.

Later in the afternoon we went to Skansen. At that time, there was an elephant house that was kept closed to preserve humidity. When we opened the door, it smelled very bad and mom yelled, in Greek of course, "God, how disgusting it smells!", while she held her nose. There were a lot of people inside the house and everyone laughed. They understood that the elderly lady thought it smelled so bad. 

At the glassworks, she was fascinated by the skilled glassblowers who made such elegant glass objects and bought a gift for my sister. She thought it was Kosta Boda, which was so famous in Greece at the time, and was a little sad when I told her that it was a different brand. I tried to show them the old log houses there, but she wasn't very impressed. She had stayed in similar houses in rural Greece as a young girl, she said.

The World Cup in Mexico was already underway and every night my dad and I sat and watched the late games, while my mom slept. I still remember Maradona's "hand of God" in the game against England and how we laughed when we saw that goal.

In a few days they would go back to Greece. I think they experienced wonderful things in Sweden and were very happy and proud of me. On the way to Arlanda, my mother said that she understood me when I decided to move to Sweden. And since she noticed that I was doing well, it didn't matter if I didn't keep my promise to return to Greece after my studies. Maybe she said it for my sake, because deep down she hoped that I would return to Greece.

My dissertation was also noticed abroad, by the "International J. A. Schumpeter Society" in Augsburg and I became an honorary member of the society.  It was also noticed by the Swedish media, by many inventors and entrepreneurs.

I received about a dozen letters from inventors telling me how banks snubbed them when they sought funding. Some people thought that I, as a doctor on the subject, should write an article and criticize the banks that are so generous to, for example, the real estate market and so stingy towards innovators. Others thought I was the right person to judge their invention, sent me a sketch and asked me what I thought. Of course, I very much appreciated all these letters I received and I replied to almost all of them because I felt sorry for them and should be treated much better by both society and the banks. The patent office also noticed my thesis and I had a lecture there.

I myself did not dare to go to Greece on holiday because I would be arrested and forced to do the military service. The PhD was done and I felt relaxed, but the next question was "what do I do now?"