Announcement

Claudio Melo Becomes ESO Representative in Chile

6 June 2018

ESO astronomer Claudio Melo has become ESO’s new Representative in Chile. He replaces Fernando Comerón, who has been ESO Representative since 2013.

Claudio explains how he views his new role: “I am thrilled to use the wonders of the Universe and the educational potential of astronomy to inspire young people across the world and especially in Chile. Along with the ESO staff, I aim to continue Fernando’s successful work and nurture the already very good relations with government officials as well as the vibrant scientific community in Chile and beyond.”

Melo originally comes from Natal, Brazil where he obtained his BSc and MSc in physics and astrophysics respectively at the UFRN (Natal) working with Jose De Medeiros. He then went on to complete a PhD from 1996-2001 at Geneva Observatory (Geneva University), Switzerland where he studied young stars under the supervision of Michel Mayor.

Melo joined ESO in 2002 as an ESO Fellow with duties at the Paranal Observatory, becoming staff astronomer in 2005. Since then, Melo worked for almost a decade as support astronomer at Paranal with a brief period at ESO Headquarters in Garching. In 2013, he was appointed Head of the Office for Science in Chile until taking over his new role as ESO Representative in Chile.

His science interests include finding planets in different environments, metal poor stars and young stars. Claudio is very familiar with high-precision radial velocity measurements and is one of the initiators of the NIRPS spectrograph that will be mounted at the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla and work with HARPS to hunt for habitable planets around low-mass cool stars.

Fernando Comerón has returned from Chile to work at ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany.

Contacts

Richard Hook
ESO Public Information Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: pio@eso.org