Eamonn Kerins: What Does It Take To Leave Our Planet

Eamonn Kerins is an astrophysicist at The University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. He leads a team at Manchester that is studying exoplanets – planets around other stars. He is a leading expert on the use of gravitational lensing to find exoplanets, a technique that uses Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. Eamonn also co-leads an international survey, SPEARNET, that is detecting atmospheres around exoplanets using a global telescope network.

Eamonn shared some of the latest research that himself and other colleagues around the world are undertaking into the study of exoplanets – planets around other stars. This research is informing us about the possibility of life on other planets. He discussed how game theory might help to maximise the odds of discovering intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.