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Pierre North

pierre.north@epfl.ch

EPFL SB IPHYS LASTRO
Observatoire de Sauverny
1290 Versoix

Expertise

chemically peculiar stars, binary stars and distance determination, first generations of stars in the universe, Lyman-alpha emitting nebulae around quasars
Physics studies at University of Neuchatel and University of Geneva. PhD thesis at University of Geneva under the supervision of Prof. Bernard Hauck (University of Lausanne), and obtained in May 1984. My research activities have been first centred on the nature and evolution of chemically peculiar stars, and on the use of eclipsing binaries as tools of distance determination or probes of stellar evolution. Later, I have been interested in host galaxies of remote quasars, and I am now turning to the study of stellar populations of nearby galaxies, especially the dwarf spheroidals.

Book

A book discussing the plurality of inhabited worlds, published on the 10th of july 2010 (in French)

Selected publications

The nature of the F str lambda4077. III. Spectroscopy of the barium dwarfs and other CP stars

P. North, S. Berthet, T. Lanz
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 1994, Vol. 281, p. 775 in

A calibration of Geneva photometry for B to G stars in terms of Teff, logg and [M/H]

M. Kuenzli, P. North, R.L. Kurucz, B. Nicolet
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics Suppl., 1997, Vol. 122, p. 51 in

Do Si stars undergo any rotational braking?

P. North
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 1998, Vol. 334, p. 181 in

Magnetic Ap stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

S. Hubrig, P. North, G. Mathys
Published in Astrophysical Journal, 2000, Vol. 539, p. 352 in

Automated spectroscopic abundances of A and F-type stars using echelle spectrographs. II. Abundaces of 140 A-F stars from ELODIE and CORALIE

D. Erspamer, P. North
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2003, Vol. 398, p. 1121 in

A purely geometric distance to the binary star Atlas, a member of the Pleiades

N. Zwahlen, P. North, Y. Debernardi, L. Eyer, F. Galland, M.A.T. Groenewegen, C.A. Hummel
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2004, Vol. 425, p. L45 in

Automated analysis of eclipsing binary light curves - II. Statistical analysis of OGLE LMC eclipsing binaries

T. Mazeh, O. Tamuz, P. North
Published in Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astron. Soc., 2006, Vol. 367, p. 1531 in

Deep optical spectroscopy of extended Ly-alpha emission around three radio-quiet z=4.5 quasars

F. Courbin, P. North, A. Eigenbrod, D. Chelouche
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2008, Vol. 488, p. 91 in

VLT multi-object spectroscopy of 33 eclipsing binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud. New distance and depth of the SMC, and a record-breaking apsidal motion

P. North, R. Gauderon, F. Barblan, F. Royer
Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2010, Vol. 520, A74 in

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