Background
Michaël Gillon was born in 1974, in Liège, Belgium.
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Michael Gillon, Professor Guillem Anglada and Author Colson Whitehead attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Natalie Batalha, Professor Guillem Anglada and Astronomer Michael Gillon attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Natalie Batalha, Professor Guillem Anglada and Astronomer Michael Gillon attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
United States
University of Liege (Belgium) astronomer Michael Gillon (2nd,R) speaks as (L-R) Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer Nikole Lewis, MIT Professor of planetary science and physics Sara Seager, Sean Carey of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center and Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen are listening.
2010
Atacama Desert, Chile
Michaël Gillon posing in front of TRAPPIST, a Belgian robotic telescope installed by himself and his Liege colleagues in 2010 in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
2010
Atacama Desert, Chile
Michaël Gillon posing in front of TRAPPIST, a Belgian robotic telescope installed by himself and his Liege colleagues in 2010 in the Chilean Atacama Desert.
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Michael Gillon, Professor Guillem Anglada and Author Colson Whitehead attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Natalie Batalha, Professor Guillem Anglada and Astronomer Michael Gillon attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
(L-R) Astronomer Natalie Batalha, Professor Guillem Anglada and Astronomer Michael Gillon attend the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Jemal Countess/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
Michael Gillon (R) attends the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images North America)
2017
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023, US
Michael Gillon (R) attends the 2017 Time 100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 25, 2017 in New York City. (April 24, 2017 - Source: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America)
2017
United States
University of Liege (Belgium) astronomer Michael Gillon (2nd,R) speaks as (L-R) Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer Nikole Lewis, MIT Professor of planetary science and physics Sara Seager, Sean Carey of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center and Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Thomas Zurbuchen are listening.
2017
Atacama Desert, Chile
Michaël Gillon and Emmanuël Jehin in front of the TRAPPIST telescope, in Chile.
2017
Michaël Gillon
2017
Liège, Belgium
Michaël Gillon and Emmanuël Jehin at work.
2018
Place du 20 Août 7, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Michel Mayor, Michaël Gillon and Professor Albert Corhay, Rector of the University of Liège © ULiège-Photo: Michel Houet 2018
Michaël Gillon
Michaël Gillon
Michaël Gillon
Michaël Gillon
Place du 20 Août 7, 4000 Liège, Belgium
He enrolled at the University of Liege. Gillon quickly caught up any lost time because he finished his degree in biochemistry as well as the first cycle of studies in physics in five years.
Astronomer astrophysicist scientist
Michaël Gillon was born in 1974, in Liège, Belgium.
Michaël Gillon has had an atypical career: he began his studies at the age of 24, after seven years in the army. He left high school at 17 and didn’t feel ready or motivated to go to university. Michaël regretted it afterwards. He enrolled at the University of Liege. Gillon quickly caught up any lost time because he finished his degree in biochemistry as well as the first cycle of studies in physics in five years.
In 2003, attracted to research, Michaël Gillon hesitated for a moment when it came to choosing a subject for his doctoral thesis. There was too much choice: Genetics, Biochemistry and Astrophysics. Finally, he chose the latter and he was offered work processing the observations of the CoRoT satellite. He discovered a passion for exoplanets and research into extraterrestrial life. In March 2006, he defended his thesis on the improvement of photometry in exoplanetary transits, within the framework of the CoRoT project.
He then left on a post-doctoral trip to the observatory in Geneva, where he worked for almost three years with Michel Mayor’s group, a pioneer and leader in exoplanetary research. Now back at the University of Liège since January 2009, he is currently continuing his work on exoplanetary detection and their physiochemical characterisation. Within the context of the TRAPPIST project, he is the scientific manager and main investigator concerning exoplanets. This project has resulted in numerous publications as well as the detection of some thirty exoplanets in transit between the end of 2010 and the middle of 2012.
Michaël Gillon has also been the initiative behind international research observing the emission (luminous flux) of a Super-Earth.
Since 2012, he has been developing the SPECULOOS project within his unit and in partnership with the University of Cambridge and the University of Jeda. The aim of this project is to study ultracool dwarfs in order to detect habitable planetary systems that are close to Earth. He is also involved in the preparation of the CHEOPS space mission which involves placing a small space telescope in orbit to examine already known exoplanets in more detail. Michaël Gillon is a member of the board and scientific team of the CHEOPS mission.
Michaël Gillon is at the origin of the discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system, revealed on february 22dn 2017, in an article published in Nature. TRAPPIST-1 is the system with the biggest number of rocky planets and the greatest number of potentially habitable worlds ever discovered up to the present day. It has reignited the quest for extra-terrestrial life in the Universe.
Michaël Gillon believes in extraterrestrial life.
Quotations: "Believe in your dreams and in yourself. And always try to use your full potential in all your enterprises! Being a scientist, i.e. being paid to study the mysteries of Nature, is one of the greatest possible jobs, so spare no effort to reach this goal if this is the dream of your life!"
He is a Member of Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science, Member of Division F Planetary Systems and Astrobiology and a Member of Division G Stars and Stellar Physics.
Physical Characteristics:
Hair color - brown
Eyes color - blue
There is no information about his personal life.