Didier Queloz
| Didier Queloz | |
|---|---|
|
Queloz at the European Southern Observatory 50th anniversary gala, Residenz, Munich, October 11, 2012. | |
| Born | February 23, 1966 (age 50) |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Occupation | Astronomer |
Didier Queloz (born February 23, 1966) is an astronomer with a prolific record in finding extrasolar planets in the Astrophysics Group of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, and also at the University of Geneva.
Didier Queloz was a Ph.D. student at the University of Geneva when he and Michel Mayor, his doctoral advisor, discovered the first exoplanet around a main sequence star.[1] Queloz performed an analysis on 51 Pegasi using radial velocity measurements (Doppler spectroscopy), and was astonished to find a planet with an orbital period of 4.2 days. He had been performing the analysis as an exercise to hone his skills.[2] The planet, 51 Pegasi b, challenged the then accepted views of planetary formation, being a hot Jupiter or roaster. He has received the 2011 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award of Basic Sciences (co-winner with Michel Mayor) for developing new astronomical instruments and experimental techniques that led to the first observation of planets outside the solar system.
References
- ↑ Overbye, Dennis (12 May 2013). "Finder of New Worlds". New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ↑ Mayor, Michael; Queloz, Didier (1995). "A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star". Nature. 378 (6555): 355–359. Bibcode:1995Natur.378..355M. doi:10.1038/378355a0.