Nikolaos Apostolidis

Nikolaos Apostolidis (Greek:Νικόλαος Αποστολίδης; 1856 - 1919), was a biologist, naturalist, professor, dean, author, and politician. He replaced Iraklis Mitsopoulos as the second director of the Zoological Museum of the University of Athens. He served as Dean of the Philosophical School, Rector of the University of Athens, and Minister of Economics. He popularized natural science and was one of the most prolific Greek naturalists of the 20th century. He studied countless species of animals.

Nikolaos was born in Volos to the aristocratic family Apostolidis. He migrated to Athens to attend school and eventually studied at the University of Athens, University of Geneva, and the Sorbonne University. He completed his doctoral studies at the Sorbonne in the field of natural science under the supervision of Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. He returned to Greece and became a high school teacher and professor at the University of Athens. He expanded the Laboratory of Zoology at the Zoological Museum which was part of the University of Athens and published several scientific papers on zoology while introducing systematic experimental zoology to Greece. He died in Athens in 1919.