ETH Global Lecture Series: Life on Earth and Beyond
26 Apr 2024 - How did life on Earth begin and proliferate? And is there life beyond our planet? At this ETH Global Lecture, Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz and former NASA research head Thomas Zurbuchen discuss what is already known about the origin of life on Earth and beyond, what projects are underway at ETH Zurich – and what life itself has taught them.
In recent years, ETH Zurich has become one of the most renowned centres in the world for researching these matters: Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz has headed the new Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL) since autumn 2022, and former NASA research head Thomas Zurbuchen has been the Director of ETH Zurich Space since summer 2023.
At this ETH Global Lecture, the two professors will discuss what is already known about the origin of life on earth and beyond, what projects are underway at ETH Zurich – and provide an insight into the most important learnings from their lives.
Life on Earth and Beyond: Special ETH Global Lecture with Didier Queloz and Thomas Zurbuchen
Friday, 26 April 2024
17.00 - 18.30 CEST
HG F30 Audimax, door opens at 16.30
This lecture is in English. A reception will take place after the lecture
Registration is required external pagehere*
This event will be live-streamed external pagehere. There is no registration needed to join the live-streaming
*Due to high demand, this event is likely to book out. Lecture halls HG F 1 and HG F 7 have been reserved for a live-broadcast of the lecture for anyone who cannot secure a seat in the main venue
Speakers
- Didier Queloz, Professor of Exoplanets at ETH Zurich and Director of the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL)
- Thomas Zurbuchen, Professor of Space Science and Technology and Director of ETH Zurich Space
- Anna Maltsev, Spokesperson and Editor in chief of the employer’s magazine of ETH Zurich (moderation)
Didier Queloz
Professor Didier Queloz was born in Geneva in 1966, where he later studied physics. He was at the origin of the ‘exoplanet revolution’ in astrophysics when in 1995 during his PhD with his supervisor they announced the first discovery of a giant planet orbiting another star, outside the solar system. They received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for this spectacular discovery that kick-started the rise of exoplanet research.
Over the next 25 years, Didier Queloz scientific contributions have been to make progress in detection and measurement of exoplanet systems with the goal to retrieve information on their physical structure to better understand their formation and evolution and to compare with our Solar System. He participated and conducted various programs leading to the detection of hundred planets, include many breakthrough results.
Didier Queloz has been Professor of Exoplanets at ETH Zurich since 2021, where he launched the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life (COPL) in autumn 2022. Together with 40 research groups at ETH Zurich from a wide range of disciplines and collaborations with institutions from all over the world, Didier Queloz is trying to track down the origins of life.
Thomas Zurbuchen
Professor Thomas Zurbuchen was the longest serving Head of Science at NASA from October 2016 through 2022. During this time, he drove all aspects of leadership in space science, launching 37 missions and starting another 54. His achievements include bringing the international James Webb Telescope to launch, overseeing two Mars landings – the Perseverance rover and the first controlled flight away from the Earth with the Ingenuity helicopter – and developing the Parker Solar Probe, a mission to touch the Sun.
Thomas Zurbuchen was born in Heiligenschwendi in 1968, studied physics at the University of Bern and joined the University of Michigan in 1996, where he was appointed Professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering in 2008. His scientific research focuses on solar and heliospheric physics, experimental space research, and space systems. He is also well known for his work on innovation and entrepreneurship.
Thomas Zurbuchen has been Professor of Space Science and Technology at ETH Zurich since summer 2023 and heads the ETH Zurich Space initiative. Together with many researchers, he wants to take space science to a new level in Switzerland and throughout Europe. He has already achieved his first goal: Switzerland's first space master's programme will be launched at ETH in autumn.
The ETH Global Lecture Series offers a platform for contemporary global topics to be discussed with outstanding global thinkers. We bring amazing people together to discuss their personal insights, experiences and expertise. In addition to simply learning, our goals are to broaden our perspectives of a contemporary issue so we can all broaden our thinking, challenge our opinions and through this, make a meaningful contribution to issues we are working on.