Studium Generale | Blaauw Lecture | Copernicus Revisited: Is the Earth Special?

Nearly 500 years ago, Nicolas Copernicus published his disruptive theory that Earth is not the center of the universe. The idea that earth is not a remarkable planet held fast for centuries. In the last two decades, a new test for this ‘Copernican Principle’ emerged, which resulted in the discovery of an abundance of planets orbiting other stars. Thanks to the revolutionary capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope, researchers are now able to study other Earth-size planets in detail, and in particular search for and characterize their atmospheres.

During this year’s Blaauw Lecture, Laura Kreidberg will give a status report on these observations of rocky planets, providing a first glimpse of the building blocks available for the origin of life on terrestrial planets beyond the solar system.