In 30 years, the field of exoplanets has moved from the discovery of individual single exoplanets to the ‘full’ characterisation of exoplanetary systems. EPRVs have not only been fundamental in the early stages of this exploration by unveiling the diversity of such systems and uncovering an unexpected population of sub-Neptunes and super-Earths, but also fundamentally contributed to characterising them through precise mass determination and thus densities, determining star-planet system architectures, and exploring the atmospheric composition and dynamics of the planets. My goal is to illustrate this evolution of the field by presenting results obtained with instruments like Elodie/Coralie, HARPS, ESPRESSO and NIRPS.
Prof. Francesco Alfonso Pepe is an astrophysicist and expert in high-precision astronomical instrumentation and exoplanet detection. He earned his physics degree (1992) and PhD (1995) from ETH Zurich and joined the University of Geneva in 1998. He led the development of the HARPS spectrograph and is Principal Investigator of major projects including HARPS-North and ESPRESSO at the ESO Very Large Telescope, enabling the discovery of low-mass and potentially habitable planets. Currently, he is full Professor and Director of the Department of Astronomy. He has authored over 400 papers and received the 2024 Tycho Brahe Medal for his contributions to exoplanet science.