Didier Queloz is the origin of the ‘exoplanet revolution’ in astrophysics, when he announced the first discovery of a planet orbiting another star outside the solar system in 1995 during his doctoral thesis together with his supervisor. This groundbreaking discovery triggered a revolution in astronomy and gave a decisive boost to the field of exoplanet research. Since then, Didier Queloz's scientific contributions have mainly consisted of making progress in the discovery and measurement capabilities of exoplanet systems, with the aim of gaining information about their physical structure in order to better understand their formation and evolution - in comparison to our solar system. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019 for his work.
He has recently focussed his activities on the discovery of Earth-like planets and the topic of universal life. Over the course of his career, he has developed astronomical instruments, new observation approaches and detection algorithms. He participated in and led programmes that led to the discovery of hundreds of planets, including groundbreaking results. He has also contributed to numerous documentary films, articles and TV and radio interviews to share enthusiasm for science in general and to promote interest in topics such as exoplanets and life in the universe in particular.
The presentation will be held in English.
