Observing Photons in Space

Prof. Huber obtained his Ph.D. in 1963 under Prof. Ernst Miescher at the University of Basel with a dissertation on molecular spectroscopy. He was employed at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he worked in laboratory astrophysics and was responsible for the instrumentation and calibration of the Harvard instruments flown on the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-6) and later on the Skylab space station (1973-74). After his return in 1973 to ETH Zurich he expanded his work in laboratory astrophysics to cover laser-excited plasmas, developed astronomical optics and participated in the SOHO mission as co-investigator on three experiments. Here, his interest lies in the radiometric inter-calibration of all the remote sensing-instruments on the spacecraft as well as in the measurement of the physical properties and chemical composition of the Solar Corona.

He headed ESA's Space Science Department from mid-1987 until mid-2000 and was ESA Science Advisor until 2001. He is an Associate of Harvard College Observatory, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and of the Academia Europaea, and Honorary Member of the Swiss Physical Society. From 2003-2005 he was President of the European Physical Society. Currently he chairs the Swiss Commission for the Jungfraujoch Research Station of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), and is a member of the editorial board of the European journal "Astronomy and Astrophysics Review" and of the Board of Directors of the Europhysics Letters (EPL) Association.