Didier Queloz
Didier Queloz | |
---|---|
Born | Switzerland | 23 February 1966
Nationality | Swiss |
Education | University of Geneva (MS, DEA, PhD) |
Known for | First person to find a planet orbiting a Sun-like star outside of our solar system |
Awards | Wolf Prize in Physics (2017) Nobel Prize in Physics (2019) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Recherches liées à la spectroscopie par corrélation croisée numérique; (INTER-TACOS: guide de l'utilisateur) (1995) |
Doctoral advisor | Michel Mayor |
Didier Patrick Queloz
Early life and education
Queloz was born in Switzerland, on 23 February 1966.[7][8]
Queloz studied at the
In the area of religion The Daily Telegraph reports him as saying, "although not a believer himself, “Science inherited a lot from religions”".[10]
Career and research
This poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Didier Queloz" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2022) |
Didier Queloz is at the origin of the “exoplanet revolution” in astrophysics when as part of his PhD at the University of Geneva , with his supervisor, they discovered the first exoplanet around a main sequence star.[11][12] In 1995 with Michel Mayor announced a giant planet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi; the planet was identified as 51 Pegasi b and determined to be of a Hot Jupiter.[11][12] The planet was detected by the measurement of small periodic changes in stellar radial velocity produced by the orbiting planet. Detecting this small variability by the Doppler effect had been possible thanks to the development of a new type of spectrograph, ELODIE,[13] installed at the Haute-Provence Observatory, combined creative approach to measuring precise stellar radial velocity. For this achievement, they were awarded half of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star"[5] resulting in “contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos.”[14]
This seminal discovery has spawned a revolution in astronomy and kickstarted the research field of exoplanets. Over the next 25 years, Didier Queloz's main scientific contributions have essentially been focused to expand our detection and measurement capabilities of these systems to retrieve information on their physical structure. The goal is to better understand their formation and evolution by comparison with the Solar System. In the course of his career, he developed new astronomical equipment, novel observational approaches, and detection algorithms. He participated and conducted programs leading to the detection of hundred planets, including breakthrough results.
Early in his career, he identified stellar activity as a potential limitation for planet detection. He published a reference paper describing how to disentangle stellar activity from a planetary signal using proxies, including new algorithms that have become standard practice in all planet publications based on precise Doppler spectroscopy data. With this work he set the foundation to optimize measurements of stellar radial velocity that is still in use today.
Queloz received the 2011
Shortly after the start of the
After the announcement of the detection of the first transiting planet (in 1999), Didier Queloz's research interest got broader with the objective to combine capabilities offered by transiting planets and follow-up Doppler spectroscopy measurements. In 2000 he achieved the first spectroscopic transit detection of an exoplanet using the so-called
The special geometry of transiting planets combined with precise Doppler spectroscopic observations allow us to measure the mass and radius of planets and to compute their bulk densities to get insights about their physical structure. In 2003 Didier Queloz, recently appointed at a faculty position, with his research team pioneered and established the combination of these techniques by first measuring bulk density of
In 2007 Didier Queloz became associate professor. Over the next 5 years following his nomination his research program based on the combination of spectroscopy and transit detection intensified. He took the lead in the spectroscopic follow-up effort of the WASP consortium and the
All follow-up expertise he developed naturally extended to the Kepler space telescope era with HARPS-N consortium confirming the Earth-like bulk density of Kepler-10. On the ground-based transit programs, Didier Queloz was deeply involved in the design and installation of a new generation of survey telescope: the NGTS Observatory. His role was decisive during system tests in Europe and to establish the facility at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
At the time Didier Queloz moved to the University of Cambridge, he essentially focused his activity to set up a comprehensive research activity directed to the detection of Earth-like planets and life in the Universe, and to further develop the exoplanet community in UK. When he left Switzerland, he was co-directing a major national initiative[17] which eventually got funded. At Cambridge with the help of his colleagues of the IoA and DAMTP he established the Cambridge Exoplanet Research Centre[18] to stimulate joint coordinated efforts and collaborations between departments. In UK he organized the first “Exoplanet community meeting” and installed the idea of a regular yearly “community” workshop. In the European context, he is leading at Geneva (through his joint Professor appointment) the development of the ground segment CHEOPS[19] space mission and he chairs the science team.[20]
His most recent research highlights are related to the search for transiting Earth-like planets on low mass stars and Universal life. This program, carried out in collaboration with M. Gillon from the University of Liège, is at the origins of the detection of TRAPPIST-1, a planetary system potentially interesting to further search for atmosphere and life signature. Another successful avenue of research is the characterization of the rocky surface or atmosphere of hot small planets with the work on 55 Cancri e. The recent extension of this program towards “Life in the Universe” is carried out in the context of an international research initiative supported by the Simons Foundation. The highlight result of this collaboration is the definition – combining chemistry and astrophysical constraints – of minimum conditions for the origins of RNA precursors on exoplanets (“abiogenesis zone”).
Discoveries of exoplanets attract a lot of attention from the public and media. In parallel to his research and teaching activities, Didier Queloz has participated in numerous documentaries, movies, articles, and TV and radio interviews to share the excitement, and to explain results and promote interest in science in general.
He was also a visiting scientist at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in 2019.[21]
In October 2019, related to his work in astronomy and exoplanet discoveries, Queloz predicted humans will discover extraterrestrial life in the next 30 years, stating, "I can't believe we are the only living entity in the universe. There are just way [too] many planets, way too many stars, and the chemistry is universal. The chemistry that led to life has to happen elsewhere. So I am a strong believer that there must be life elsewhere."[22]
In December 2019, Queloz took issue with those who are not supportive of helping to limit climate change, stating, “I think this is just irresponsible, because the stars are so far away I think we should not have any serious hope to escape the Earth [...] Also keep in mind that we are a species that has evolved and developed for this planet. We’re not built to survive on any other planet than this one [...] We’d better spend our time and energy trying to fix it.”[23]
Highlights and publications
Didier Queloz has over 400 scientific publications, attracting over 50,000 citations. His H-index is 115.[24]
Awards
- 2011: BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award of Basic Sciences (co-winner with Michel Mayor)
- 2013: Clarivate Citation Laureates
- 2017: Wolf Prize in Physics
- 2019: Nobel Prize in Physics
- 2020: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society[25]
Named after him
- Asteroid 177415 Queloz was named in his honor.
References
- ^ Cavendish Astrophysics: Professor Didier Queloz www.astro.phy.cam.ac.uk, accessed 3 February 2020
- ^ Cambridge Press Release: Professor Didier Queloz wins 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for first discovery of an exoplanet www.cam.ac.uk, accessed 3 February 2020
- S2CID 4339201.
- Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ a b Chang, Kenneth; Specia, Megan (8 October 2019). "Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Studies of Earth's Place in the Universe". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
- ^ swissinfo.ch/ilj, Keystone-SDA/ETH Zurich/SWI. "Nobel winner Queloz to head new research centre in Zurich". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
- ^ Vonarburg, Barbara (25 April 2015). "Didier Queloz". PlanetS. National Centre of Competence in Research. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ Johnston, Hamish (8 October 2019). "James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz share Nobel Prize for Physics". Physics World. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ Curriculum Vitae Didier Queloz - website of the University of Geneva
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ S2CID 4339201.
- ^ a b Overbye, Dennis (12 May 2013). "Finder of New Worlds". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- . Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- . Retrieved 4 April 2022.
- ^ "The BBVA Foundation presents its Frontiers of Knowledge Awards at a ceremony enthroning science and culture as motors of development". BBVA Foundation. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
- ^ COROT CNES webpage
- ^ PlanetS webpage
- ^ Cambridge Exoplanet Center
- ^ CHEOPS webpage
- ^ "Who is Who in CHEOPS - CHEOPS - Cosmos". www.cosmos.esa.int. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "Congratulations To MKI Visiting Scientist Didier Queloz For Being Awarded The 2019 Nobel Prize In Physics!". MIT. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
- ^ Bodkin, Henry (8 October 2019). "Cambridge University planet hunter says mankind could find alien life in 30 years as he wins Nobel prize". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- AP News. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ^ "Didier Queloz". Google Scholar.
- ^ "Didier Queloz". Royal Society. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
External links
- "SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)", query for Didier Queloz. Includes 200 abstracts with Queloz listed as an author or co-author a/o 23 February 2017.
- Didier Queloz on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture on Sunday 8 December 2019 Exoplanets: 51 Pegasis b and all the others …