Background
Papaconstantinou was born on February 10, 1936 in Athens, Greece; the son of Stefan Papaconstantinou and Caterina Vousoura.
Papaconstantinou was born on February 10, 1936 in Athens, Greece; the son of Stefan Papaconstantinou and Caterina Vousoura.
Papaconstantinou received a diploma in Chemistry from the University of Athens in 1960. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Georgetown University in 1968.
Elias was the 2nd lieutenant in Greek Army from 1960 to 1962. He began his career as a research fellow in Chemical Department of National Centre for Sensor Research Demokritos in Athens in 1962 and held it for a year. Then he moved to the United States and in 1968, he became a postdoctoral research associate in Chemical Department at Boston University. Two years later Papaconstantinou was appointed a chief research chemist at P. A. Hunt Chemical Corporation.
In 1973, Elias took a position of a research director at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos". Twenty six years later he became an acting chairman at the same institute. Since 2004, Elias has been an Emeritus research director at the institute. Also he is currently a director of the Catalytic–Photocatalytic Processes Lab. He was a visiting associate professor of chemical department at Boston University from 1979 to 1980.
Papaconstantinou was a member of American College of Surgeons and Greek Chemists Association.
Elias Papaconstantinou is married and has 2 children.