Pierre Ferruit - Personal Profiles

Main Research Fields

My work during the last two decades has been focused on the JWST project and the NIRSpec instrument in particular. Beyond instrumentation, my main field of interest was and still is the formation and the evolution of galaxies but my work at ESA on JWST/NIRSpec as led me to collaborate with researchers on a variety of other topics including exoplanet and solar system studies.

Instrumentation: I initially worked on integral field spectrographs (TIGER, OASIS, a little bit on MUSE) for ground-based observatories as part of the team of Roland Bacon at the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL). I then focused on instrumentation for space-based observatories with JWST and, in particular, the NIRSpec instrument, first at CRAL and then at ESA. I have a particular interest in performance evaluation, simulations and data processing / calibration.

Formation and evolution of galaxies: my initial interests was on the excitation mechanisms of the interstellar medium in nearby Seyfert galaxies (observation and modeling). I am now managing the NIRSpec GTO galaxy formation and evolution program, working with the NIRSpec GTO team to make sure we use this precious time in a scientifically sound and productive way.

Other scientific topics: through collaboration with experts in various domains (e.g. Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre on small bodies in the solar system), I have brought my expertise in JWST/NIRSpec to support work on future observations with JWST.