Thérèse Encrenaz (néeGounon,^[1] born 1946) is a Frenchplanetary scientist who "played a leading role in the development of planetology in Europe".^[2] Her research concernsextraterrestrial atmospheres, particularly of the planets and comets in theSolar System. She is a research director for theCNRS, emeritus, affiliated with theParis Observatory.^[3]

Encrenaz was born on March 10, 1946.^[4] After studies at theÉcole normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses [fr],Goddard Institute for Space Studies,University of Paris, andParis Observatory,^[2] she earned adiplôme d'études approfondies in 1968, adoctorat de troisième cycle in 1969,^[4] and, in 1975, adoctorat d'état.^[2]

As a director of research for theFrench National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Paris Observatory, she headed the DESPA and LESIA laboratories, and became vice-president of the observatory,^[2] before retiring as research director emeritus.^[3]

She was editor-in-chief of the journalPlanetary and Space Science from 2002 to 2007.^[2]

Encrenaz is the namesake of asteroid5443 Encrenaz, discovered in 1991.^[5]

She is the recipient of the 1998CNRS Silver Medal, the 2007Prix Jules Janssen of theSociété astronomique de France,^[6] the 2010 David Bates Medal of the European Geosciences Union,^[2] the 2014 Prix Deslandres of theFrench Academy of Sciences,^[7] and the 2021Gerard P. Kuiper Prize of theAmerican Astronomical Society.^[3]

She was elected to theAcademia Europaea in 2002.^[6] She was named a chevalier of theLegion of Honour in 2009, and an officier in 2019.^[1]

Encrenaz is the author or editor of many books on planetology^[2] including:

• The Solar System (with Jean-Pierre Bibring, Intereditions/CNRS, 1987; translated into English by S. Dunlop, Springer, 1990)^[8]
• Infrared Astronomy with ISO (with M. F. Kessler, Nova, 1992)^[9]
• 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)^[10]
• 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)^[11]
• The New Worlds: Extrasolar Planets (withFabienne Casoli, Springer, 2007)
• Planetary Systems: Detection, Formation and Habitability of Extrasolar Planets (with Marc Ollivier, Françoise Roques, Franck Selsis, and Fabienne Casoli, Springer, 2009)^[12]
• Life beyond Earth: The Search for Habitable Worlds in the Universe (withAthena Coustenis, Cambridge University Press, 2013)^[13]
• Planets: Ours and Others; from Earth to Exoplanets (World Scientific, 2013)^[14]
• The Exoplanets Revolution (with James Lequeux and Fabienne Casoli, EDP Sciences, 2020)
• Planets and Life (with James Lequeux and Fabienne Casoli, EDP Sciences, 2021)

Encrenaz is married toPierre Encrenaz, who is also an astronomer.^[15]

• 1946 births
• Living people
• French planetary scientists
• Women planetary scientists
• French women scientists
• French women astronomers
• Officers of the Legion of Honour
• Members of Academia Europaea
• Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 maint: untitled periodical
• CS1 errors: bare URL
• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from July 2023
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