Didier Queloz, recipient of the Frontiers of Knowledge award in 2012 and Nobel Laureate in Physics in 2019, delivered this lecture in May 2012.
In this talk, Queloz revisits the journey from the first discovery of an exoplanet in 1995 to the cutting-edge techniques currently used to detect Earth-like planets. He explains radial velocity, transit, and spectroscopic methods, along with the challenges of identifying atmospheres, masses, and planetary compositions. The lecture places the discovery of these worlds beyond the solar system in both a technological and philosophical context—revealing new potential environments and guiding future searches for life beyond Earth.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics. How many planets similar to Earth are orbiting ot
Didier Queloz, recipient of the Frontiers of Knowledge award in 2012 and Nobel Laureate in Physics in 2019, delivered this lecture in May 2012.
In this talk, Queloz revisits the journey from the first discovery of an exoplanet in 1995 to the cutting-edge techniques currently used to detect Earth-like planets. He explains radial velocity, transit, and spectroscopic methods, along with the challenges of identifying atmospheres, masses, and planetary compositions. The lecture places the discovery of these worlds beyond the solar system in both a technological and philosophical context—revealing new potential environments and guiding future searches for life beyond Earth.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics. How many planets similar to Earth are orbiting other stars? The lectures in the second edition explore questions such as the search for life in other worlds, the expansion of the universe, neutron stars, and clusters of galaxies.
