astronomy

Thérèse Encrenaz

Thérèse Encrenaz is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thérèse Encrenaz rather than just read about it. In short: Thérèse Encrenaz (née Gounon, born 1946) is a French planetary scientist who "played a leading role in the development of planetology in Europe". Her research concerns extraterrestrial atmospheres, particularly of the planets and comets in the Solar System.

Key takeaways

Thérèse Encrenaz belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thérèse Encrenaz to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thérèse Encrenaz from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thérèse Encrenaz (née Gounon, born 1946) is a French planetary scientist who "played a leading role in the development of planetology in Europe". Her research concerns extraterrestrial atmospheres, particularly of the planets and comets in the Solar System. She is a research director for the CNRS, emeritus, affiliated with the Paris Observatory.

Education and career Encrenaz was born on March 10, 1946. After studies at the École normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, University of Paris, and Paris Observatory, she earned a diplôme d'études approfondies in 1968, a doctorat de troisième cycle in 1969, and, in 1975, a doctorat d'état. As a director of research for the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Paris Observatory, she headed the DESPA and LESIA laboratories, and became vice-president of the observatory, before retiring as research director emeritus. She was editor-in-chief of the journal Planetary and Space Science from 2002 to 2007.

Recognition Encrenaz is the namesake of asteroid 5443 Encrenaz, discovered in 1991. She is the recipient of the 1998 CNRS Silver Medal, the 2007 Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France, the 2010 David Bates Medal of the European Geosciences Union, the 2014 Prix Deslandres of the French Academy of Sciences, and the 2021 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize of the American Astronomical Society. She was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2002. She was named a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 2009, and an officier in 2019.

Books Encrenaz is the author or editor of many books on planetology including:

The Solar System (with Jean-Pierre Bibring, Intereditions/CNRS, 1987; translated into English by S. Dunlop, Springer, 1990) Infrared Astronomy with ISO (with M. F. Kessler, Nova, 1992) Comet Science: The Study of Remnants from the Birth of the Solar System (with Jacques Crovisier, Belin/CNRS, 1995; translated into English by Stephen Lyle, Cambridge University Press, 2000) The Outer Planets and their Moons: Comparative Studies of the Outer Planets prior to the Exploration of the Saturn System by Cassini-Huygens (with R. Kallenbach, Tobias Owen, and Christophe Sotin, Springer, 2005) Searching for Water in the Universe (Springer, 2006) The New Worlds: Extrasolar Planets (with Fabienne Casoli, Springer, 2007) Planetary Systems: Detection, Formation and Habitability of Extrasolar Planets (with Marc Ollivier, Françoise Roques, Franck Selsis, and Fabienne Casoli, Springer, 2009) Life beyond Earth: The Search for Habitable Worlds in the Universe (with Athena Coustenis, Cambridge University Press, 2013) Planets: Ours and Others; from Earth to Exoplanets (World Scientific, 2013) The Exoplanets Revolution (with James Lequeux and Fabienne Casoli, EDP Sciences, 2020) Planets and Life (with James Lequeux and Fabienne Casoli, EDP Sciences, 2021)

Personal life Encrenaz is married to Pierre Encrenaz, who is also an astronomer.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thérèse Encrenaz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thérèse Encrenaz claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thérèse Encrenaz before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thérèse Encrenaz ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thérèse Encrenaz

In research: Thérèse Encrenaz appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thérèse Encrenaz in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thérèse Encrenaz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, French planetary scientists, French recipients of the Legion of Honour, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thérèse Encrenaz outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thérèse Encrenaz in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thérèse Encrenaz means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thérèse Encrenaz out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thérèse Encrenaz in simple terms?

Why does Thérèse Encrenaz matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thérèse Encrenaz?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thérèse Encrenaz.