Alessandro Morbidelli is an Italian
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and planetary scientist currently employed by the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in
NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
.
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Alessandro Morbidelli is an Italian
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars, and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and planetary scientist currently employed by the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur in
NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
.
Morbidelli specializes in
solar systemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by gravity, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago...
dynamicsDynamics may refer to:In Physics:*Dynamics , in physics, dynamics refers to time evolution of physical processes...
, especially planetary formation and
migrationPlanetary migration occurs when a planet or other stellar satellite interacts with a disk of gas or planetesimals, resulting in the alteration of the satellite's orbital parameters, especially its semi-major axis. Planetary migration is the most likely explanation for 'hot Jupiters': extrasolar...
and the structure of the
asteroidThe asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
and
Kuiper beltThe Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 55 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20–200 times as massive...
s.
In 2000, he received the Urey Prize from the
Division for Planetary SciencesThe Division for Planetary Sciences is a division within the American Astronomical Society devoted to solar system research. It was founded in 1968. The first organizing committee members were: Edward Anders, L. Branscomb, J. W. Chamberlain, R. Goody, J. S. Hall, A. Kliore, M. B. Elroy, Tobias...
of the American Astronomical Society.