Cédric Gillmann

PS Planetary and Solar System Sciences

The 2017 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Cédric Gillmann for opening up new perspectives for atmospheric and thermal evolution of planets.

Cédric Gillmann’s areas of expertise are the long term evolution of terrestrial planets, their habitability and surface conditions, and the modelling of complex coupled interior/exterior interaction. Using a multidisciplinary approach, he has made significant contributions to one of the most fundamental questions in the field of planetology: the past climate of planets and their evolution. He developed in-depth modelling of mantle dynamics that couple with the atmosphere. He highlighted the importance of feedbacks as essential mechanisms for the evolution of both mantle and atmosphere of terrestrial planets. He showed how surface temperature variations could modify mantle convection patterns. His interests also include the mechanisms and effects of the atmospheric escape (primordial hydrodynamic and late non‐thermal escape) and the greenhouse effect on surface conditions and the evolution of the planetary bodies as a whole. He has since studied the effects of large impacts on planetary evolution, the long term evolution of terrestrial planets, their habitability and surface conditions, and the modelling of complex coupled interior/exterior interaction. He developed a self‐consistent scenario for the evolution of Venus that explains the freezing of the magma ocean and subsequent evolution to the present, which is consistent with its lack of water and isotopic ratio measurements.