Gaia People

Timo Prusti

European Space Agency

Timo Prusti is the Gaia Project Scientist as of 1 January 2007. Timo joined the European Space Agency in 1993 as a community support astronomer for the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) mission. He was posted at Villafranca, Spain (now known as ESAC) during the ISO operational period. During the post-operational phase Timo assumed the duties of the ISO Archive Scientist as an interface between astronomers and software developers. In 2000 he joined the Herschel Project Scientist's Team where he was involved in the planning for the operational phase of the mission. During this period Timo was also responsible for the scientific aspects of Herschel spacecraft pointing. Timo has been deputy project scientist for Herschel since 2003.

Timo's scientific interests are primarily in the area of star formation. The main theme of his research concerns studies related to the derivation of the initial mass function, especially for low stellar masses. He has also been involved in studies of the structure and evolution of disks around young stars. In recent years Timo has been active in the definition and promotion of virtual observatory facilities for astronomers.

[Published: 25/12/2006 | Updated: 11/03/2014]