Stéphane Udry
Stéphane Udry ( born 1961 in Sion ) is a Swiss astronomer. He is mainly known for his discoveries of exoplanets. He was involved in the discovery of a number of planets, including Gliese 581 c, the first extrasolar planet on which may be liquid water (and therefore life ) could exist.
Life
Stéphane Udry has done his doctorate in 1992 at the University of Geneva. He then worked for two years at Rutgers University in New Jersey (USA). Later he returned to Geneva and worked as a research assistant in the team of Michel Mayor ( the discoverer of the first exoplanet, 51 Peg ). In 2007 he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Geneva
Work
Earlier in his career Udry focused on the dynamics of galaxies. His main area of work is but today the measurement of radial velocities of other stars in order to find extrasolar planets. Stéphane Udry have been involved in the discovery of over 100 exoplanets. Among them is the planet Gliese 581 c, the first Earth-like planet discovered so far, could possibly exist in the liquid water.