Jean-Pierre Luminet
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
astrophysicist, specialized in black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
s and cosmology
Physical cosmology
Physical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion...
. He works as research director for the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique), and is a member of the Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH) of the observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
of Paris-Meudon.
The asteroid 5523 Luminet
5523 Luminet
5523 Luminet is a main-belt asteroid discovered on August 5, 1991 by H. E. Holt at Palomar.The French composer Thérèse Brenet wrote a work for concert band named for this asteroid, which was premièred in Paris in 2003 by the Musique de L'armée de Terre in Paris.- External links :*...
, was named after him http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs005001.html.
Timeline
- 2003 - An apparent periodicityFrequencyFrequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
in the cosmic microwave background led to the suggestion, by Jean-Pierre Luminet of the Observatoire de Paris and colleagues, that the shape of the UniverseShape of the UniverseThe shape of the universe is a matter of debate in physical cosmology over the local and global geometry of the universe which considers both curvature and topology, though, strictly speaking, it goes beyond both...
is a finite dodecahedron, attached to itself by each pair of opposite faces to form a Poincaré homology sphere ("Is the universe a dodecahedron?", article at PhysicsWeb.). During the following year, astronomers searched for more evidence to support this hypothesis but found none.
See also
- Physical CosmologyPhysical cosmologyPhysical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion...
- List of cosmologists
- Non-standard cosmologyNon-standard cosmologyA non-standard cosmology is any physical cosmological model of the universe that has been, or still is, proposed as an alternative to the big bang model of standard physical cosmology...
- Timeline of cosmologyTimeline of cosmologyThis timeline of cosmological theories and discoveries is a chronological record of the development of humanity's understanding of the cosmos over the last two-plus millennia. Modern cosmological ideas follow the development of the scientific discipline of physical cosmology.-Pre-1900:* ca...