Background

After a doctorate at the ULg’s Astrophysics Unit, supervised by Pierre Magain, which he finished in 2000, Emmanuël Jehin spent seven years in Chile as an astronomer. He worked on the Very Large Telescope (ESO, the Paranal site) within a scientific operations team and was in charge of one of the observation instruments. The VLT being very recent at the time, Emmanuël Jehin took part, with the first teams of astronomers, in putting the system in place. He returned to the country three years ago as an F.R.S.-FNRS research associate and gives a course, for the Astrophysics Masters, entitled ‘the small bodies of the solar system’ (comets, asteroids, etc.). Within the framework of the TRAPPIST project the astrophysicist is the technical and scientific manager and the main investigator for comets.

At the same time Emmanuël Jehin is very involved in making astrophysics accessible to a wider public within the Spa Astronomy Group, which he founded in 1990 along with other enthusiasts and which organises numerous activities: educational courses for children, conferences, exhibitions, public observation sessions, etc.