Nikku Madhusudhan is a Professor of

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

and Exoplanetary Science at the Institute of Astronomy,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He is credited with developing the technique of atmospheric retrieval to infer the compositions of

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

Education

Madhusudhan obtained a B. Tech at Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi before pursuing an MS and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at MIT. His doctoral advisor was

Sara Seager Sara Seager (born 21 July 1971) is a Canadian-American astronomer and planetary scientist. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is known for her work on extrasolar planets and their atmospheres. She is the auth ...

Research

During his PhD, Madhusudhan developed a method for inferring the composition and temperature structure of exoplanet atmospheres known as atmospheric retrieval, which is widely used today. In 2012, Madhusudhan showed that the mass and radius of the super-Earth

55 Cancri e 55 Cancri e (abbreviated 55 Cnc e, formally named Janssen and nicknamed "Hell on Earth") is an exoplanet in the orbit of its Sun-like host star 55 Cancri A. The mass of the exoplanet is about 8.63 Earth masses and its diameter is about twice ...

was consistent with a

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

-rich interior. In 2014, he led a team which obtained high-precision measurements of the atmospheric water abundances of three

hot Jupiter Hot Jupiters (sometimes called hot Saturns) are a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital periods (). The close proximity to their stars and high surface-atmosphere temp ...

s, finding less water than would be expected given planet formation models at the time. Madhusudhan was part of a team that detected titanium oxide in the atmosphere of the planet WASP-19b. In 2020, Madhusudhan led a team who studied the interior and atmosphere of the

mini-Neptune A Mini-Neptune (sometimes known as a gas dwarf or transitional planet) is a planet less massive than Neptune but resembling Neptune in that it has a thick hydrogen–helium atmosphere, probably with deep layers of ice, rock or liquid oceans (made ...

exoplanet K2-18b. They found that in certain cases, liquid water may exist on the planet's surface, albeit at temperatures and pressures higher than STP.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people {{UCambridge-stub