Étienne Artigau

Étienne Artigau is an astrophysicist at the Université de Montréal (UdeM). He earned his PhD in astrophysics from UdeM in 2006, working under the guidance of esteemed mentors René Doyon and Daniel Nadeau. His doctoral research was groundbreaking, involving the construction and utilization of the CPAPIR wide-field infrared camera, a pioneering instrument that remains widely used at l’Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic. His work with CPAPIR led to the detection of cloud patterns on the surfaces of brown dwarf stars, an important contribution to our understanding of these celestial objects.

Following his doctoral studies, Étienne spent three influential years at the Gemini South Observatory in Chile, where he played a pivotal role in commissioning the NICI camera used for exoplanet research. His research on brown dwarfs continued to evolve during this time.

Since his return to UdeM in 2009, Étienne Artigau has been actively engaged in numerous instrumentation projects, making significant contributions to the field. He serves as one of the scientific co-coordinators for the SPIRou spectropolarimeter and is a valuable member of the support team for the NIRISS on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Currently, his research focuses on the detection and characterization of massive, wide-separation planets orbiting young stars. He has also supervised and co-directed the PhD theses of several aspiring astrophysicists, contributing to the academic and scientific growth of UdeM.