Jean-Pierre Luminet (born 3 June 1951) is a French
astrophysicist, specializing in
black hole
A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
s and
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
. He is an
emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
research director at the CNRS (
Centre national de la recherche scientifique). Luminet is a member of the
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) and Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH) of the
Paris-Meudon Observatory, and is a visiting scientist at the Centre de Physique Théorique (CPT) in Marseilles. He is also a writer and poet.
Luminet has been awarded several prizes on account of his work in
pure science and
science communication, including the
Georges Lemaître Prize (1999) in recognition of his work in cosmology. In November 2021, he received the UNESCO
Kalinga Prize
The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in popularization of science, presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder ...
for the Popularization of Science. He serves on the editorial board of ''Inference: The International Review of Science''.
The asteroid
5523 Luminet, discovered in 1991 at
Palomar Observatory, was named after him.
Luminet has published fifteen science books,
seven historical novels,
TV documentaries, and six poetry collections. He is an
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
, an
engraver, a
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, and a
musician. During his music career, he has collaborated with composers such as
Gérard Grisey and
Hèctor Parra. Some of Luminet's literary works have been translated into other languages, such as Chinese, Korean, Bengali, German, Lithuanian, Greek, Italian or Spanish.
Scientific career
After studying mathematics at the Saint-Charles University of Marseilles in 1976, Luminet moved to Paris-Meudon Observatory to undertake a Ph. D. with
Brandon Carter
Brandon Carter, (born 1942) is an Australian theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who explores the properties of black holes, and was the first to name and employ the anthropic principle in its contemporary form. He is a researcher at t ...
as his advisor. He met
Stephen Hawking at the
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Cambridge, England. He defended his Ph.D. thesis in 1977 at Paris University on the subject of ''Singularities in Cosmology''. In 1979, Luminet got a permanent research position at the CNRS and developed his scientific activities at Paris Observatory until 2014, before joining the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille. During the two year interval, he was a visiting scientist at the
University of São Paulo, Brazil (1984 and 1988), at the
University of Berkeley, California (1989–1990) and a visiting astronomer at the
European Southern Observatory, Chile (2005).
In 1978, Luminet created the first "image" of a black hole with an accretion disk, using nothing but an early computer, math, and
India ink. He predicted that it could apply to the supermassive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy M87. In April 2019, the
Event Horizon Telescope Consortium confirmed Luminet's predictions by providing the first telescopic image of the shadow of the M87* black hole and its accretion disk.
In 1982, along with physicist
Brandon Carter
Brandon Carter, (born 1942) is an Australian theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who explores the properties of black holes, and was the first to name and employ the anthropic principle in its contemporary form. He is a researcher at t ...
, Luminet invented the concept of a
Tidal disruption event
A tidal disruption event (TDE) is a time-domain astronomy, transient astronomical source produced when a star passes so close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) that it is pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force. The star undergoes spaghett ...
(TDE), the destruction of a star passing in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole. They showed that this phenomenon could result in the violent destruction of the star causing a "stellar pancake" and nuclear reactions in the core of the star in the stage of its maximum compression. With other collaborators, Luminet predicted specific observational signatures and introduced the concept of "tidal supernovae". The theory of TDE was confirmed by observing eruptions resulting from the accretion of stellar debris. It explains the superluminous supernova
SN 2015L, the tidal explosion of a white dwarf before being absorbed beneath a massive black hole.
In 1995, with his colleague , Luminet coined the term "Cosmic Topology" for describing the shape of space, proposing a variety of universe models compatible with the standard
Friedmann-Lemaître models of relativistic cosmology.
In 2003, large scale anomalies in the anisotropies of the
cosmic microwave background
The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ...
observed by the
Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe led to Luminet suggesting that the
shape of the universe is a finite
dodecahedron, attached to itself by paired opposite faces, forming a
Poincaré homology sphere. During the following years, astronomers searched for more evidence to support this hypothesis but found none.
Jean-Pierre Luminet is a specialist in the history of cosmology and in particular the emergence of the concept of the
Big Bang. He emphasizes in several books and articles the leading role played by the Belgian priest and cosmologist
Georges Lemaître. In 2018, the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...
(IAU) recommended that
Hubble's law be known as the Hubble-Lemaître law.
Luminet published a critical analysis of the
Holographic principle and the
AdS/CFT correspondence while working on
Quantum gravity.
Artistic activities
Luminet is devoted to drawing, engraving (learned with Jean Delpech at Ecole Polytechnique), and sculpture. A thorough analysis of his artwork has been done by Martin Kemp, Professor of Art History at Oxford University.
In the field of music, Luminet collaborated in 1991 with
Gérard Grisey (a former pupil of
Olivier Messiaen and
Henri Dutilleux) to produce a piece of cosmic music called ''Le Noir de l'étoile''
(''The Black of the Star''). This work for six percussionists, based on magnetic tape and astronomical signals coming from
pulsar
A pulsar (''pulsating star, on the model of quasar'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its Poles of astronomical bodies#Magnetic poles, magnetic poles. This radiation can be obse ...
s, is regularly performed around the world. In 2011, he began a collaboration with
Hèctor Parra, who composed the orchestral piece ''Caressant l'horizon'' (''Caressing the Horizon'') inspired by Luminet's books. In 2017, Luminet wrote the scenario for Parra's ''Inscape''. Composed of an ensemble of 16 soloists, large orchestra, and electronics, the piece describes an Utopian voyage through a giant
black hole
A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
. It was created in 2018 in Barcelona, Paris, and Köln.
In 1998, Luminet was a curator of the exhibition ''Figures du Ciel'' (''Figures of Heaven''), coupled to the opening of the new
Bibliothèque nationale de France. (October 1998 – January 1999)
Honors and recognition
Luminet has received more than twenty prizes and honors, including:
* 1999 –
Georges Lemaître Prize in recognition of his work in cosmology (co-winner with
Dominique Lambert)
* 1999 – The asteroid
5523 Luminet was named after him.
* 2002 – Grand Prize at the 7th researcher's film festival for his audiovisual work
* 2006 – Prix Paul Doistau-Émile Blutet of French Academy of Sciences for Science Popularization
* 2007 – European Prize for Science Communication
* 2008 – International G.B. Lacchini Prize from Italian Astroamateurs Union
* 2021 – UNESCO
Kalinga Prize
The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in popularization of science, presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder ...
for the Popularization of Science.
UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science
(press release) Accessed 14 November 2021
Selected publications
Science books (in French)
* 1987 ''Les Trous Noirs'' ()
* 1994 ''La Physique et l'infini'' with Marc Lachièze-Rey ()
* 1998 ''Figures du Ciel'' with Marc Lachièze-Rey ()
* 1999 ''Eclipses, les rendez-vous célestes'' with Serge Brunier ()
* 2002 ''Le Feu du ciel : météores et astéroïdes tueurs'' ()
* 2004 ''L'invention du Big Bang'' ()
* 2005 ''L'Univers chiffonné'' ()
* 2005 ''De l'infini'' with Marc Lachièze-Rey ()
* 2006 ''Le destin de l'univers : Trous noirs et énergie sombre'' ()
* 2009 ''Bonnes nouvelles des étoiles'' with Élisa Brune ()
* 2011 ''Illuminations'' ()
* 2012 ''Astéroïdes : la Terre en danger'' ()
* 2015 ''L'univers en 100 questions'' ()
* 2016 ''Dialogues sous le ciel étoilé'' with H. Reeves ()
* 2016 ''De l'infini – horizons cosmiques, multivers et vide quantique (augmented edition)'' with M. Lachièze-Rey ()
* 2019 ''Chroniques de l'espace'' ()
* 2020 : ''L'écume de l'espace-temps'' ()
* 2021 : ''Du piano aux étoiles'' ()
* 2022 : ''Les trous noirs en 100 questions'' ()
* 2023 : ''Les nuits étoilées de Vincent van Gogh'' ()
* 2023 : ''Journal idéoclaste'' ()
Science books (in English)
* 1992 ''Black Holes'' (revised edition), Cambridge University Press
* 2001 ''Glorious Eclipses'' (with Serge Brunier), Cambridge University Press
* 2001 ''Celestial Treasury'' (with M. Lachièze-Rey), Cambridge University Press
* 2008 ''The Wraparound Universe'', New York, AK Peters
* 2024 ''The Big Bang Revolutionaries'', Seattle, Discovery Institute Press
Historical novels and poetry (in French)
* 1993 ''Noir soleil'' ()
* 1996 ''Les poètes et l'Univers'', Éditions le cherche-midi ()
* 1999 ''Le Rendez-vous de Vénus'' ()
* 2004 ''Itinéraire céleste'' ()
* 2002 ''Le Bâton d'Euclide'' ()
* 2006 ''Les bâtisseurs du ciel, Tome 1, Le secret de Copernic'' ()
* 2008 ''Les bâtisseurs du ciel, Tome 2, La discorde céleste: Kepler et le trésor de Tycho Brahé'' ()
* 2009 ''Les bâtisseurs du ciel, Tome 3, L'œil de Galilée'' ()
* 2010 ''Les bâtisseurs du ciel, Tome 4, La Perruque de Newton'' ()
* 2012 ''La Nature des choses'', Éditions le cherche-midi ()
* 2014 ''Un trou énorme dans le ciel'', Éditions Bruno Doucey ()
* 2015 ''Ulugh Beg, L'astronome de Samarcande'', Éditions Jean-Claude Lattès ()
* 2022 ''Histoires extraordinaires et insolites d'astronomes'', Éditions Buchet-Chastel()
See also
* Physical cosmology
* List of cosmologists
* Non-standard cosmology
* Timeline of cosmology
References
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
* J.-P. Luminet & B. Carter
"Dynamics of an Affine Star Model in a Black Hole Tidal Field"
'' Astrophys. J. Suppl.'' 61, 219–248 (1986)
*J.-P. Luminet ''et al.'', "Dodecahedral space topology as an explanation for weak wide-angle temperature correlations in the cosmic microwave background", 2003.
*J.-P. Luminet
"Interstellar Science"
''Inference : International Review of Science'', vol. 1, no. 2 (March 2015)
*J.-P. Luminet
"Cosmic Topology"
'' Scholarpedia'', 10(8):31544 (2015)
*J.-P. Luminet
"The Holographic Universe"
''Inference'' (2)1, (2016)
*J.-P. Luminet
"An Illustrated History of Black Hole Imaging : Personal Recollections (1972–2002)
, (2019)
External links
Personal page at LUTH
Luminesciences
Jean-Pierre Luminet blog in English on Futura-Sciences
The youtube channel of J.-P. Luminet
with more than 300 videos of conferences and interviews.
*
Bringing Black Holes down to Earth
in European Science Awards 2007
Getting to know Jean-Pierre Luminet
in European Science and Technology, issue 10 (2011)
Inference: The International Review of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luminet, Jean-Pierre
20th-century French astronomers
French astrophysicists
20th-century French physicists
21st-century French physicists
21st-century French astronomers
French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists
1951 births
Living people
Kalinga Prize recipients
Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research