Patrick Gaulme, tenured researcher at the Thüringer Landessternwarte - Karl Schwarzschild Observatory, passed away on July 14, 2025, at the age of 47, following pancreatic cancer.
Patrick was born in Paris on July 22, 1978. He got his PhD in Astrophysics at Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2005 under the supervision of Prof. Benoît Mosser. The subject of the thesis was "Jovian seismology: the study of oscillations by visible photometry and data analysis of spectral data".
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At the end of 2005, he moved to Nice for a postdoctoral position under the supervision of Dr. François-Xavier Schmider as the co-leader of the SYMPA project, a ground-based Doppler spectro-imager dedicated to seismic studies of Jupiter. Two years later, he moved back to Paris as a teaching assistant, where he conducted research on Venus’ atmospheric dynamics in support of ESA’s Venus Express mission.
In 2008, he was offered a three-year contract as an instrument scientist at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale under the supervision of Dr. Thierry Appourchaux for implementing a Doppler spectro-imager aboard the ESA-NASA Juice mission. He also took part in the data analysis of the Kepler (NASA) and CoRoT (CNES) data, broadening his palette to include studies of other stars and planets.
In 2011, he moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA, where he joined New Mexico State University as a postdoctoral researcher. He worked with Prof. Jason Jackiewicz on red giant stars in binary systems and on a ground-based version of the Doppler spectro-imager. His generous mentoring of graduate students led to several interesting PhD dissertations. He then became a support astronomer at Apache Point Observatory, performing service observations for the community with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
At the end of 2017, Patrick joined the team of Prof. Laurent Gizon at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany. There, he played a key role in the scientific preparations for ESA’s exoplanet and stellar-physics mission PLATO, scheduled for launch in December 2026. He initiated the Data Analysis Support Tools effort, providing the interface between the mission database and hundreds of consortium scientists. In parallel, he led a small team of postdocs and students at the institute, focusing on asteroseismology, particularly of binary stars.
In June 2023, he got a tenure-track scientist position at the Thüringer Landessternwarte (TLS) in Tautenburg, where he carried out observations at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory. He started giving lectures at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena and supervising students together with Prof. Dr. Markus Roth.
While on a conference trip to Padova, in July 2024, he first noticed symptoms that were later diagnosed as pancreatic cancer. Despite facing a terminal illness, he remained optimistic and determined to fight it. He stayed active in research and visited the institute whenever possible to attend open-door days and colloquia and meet with colleagues.
The many different positions held by Patrick reflect his openness and across-the-board skills. He was equally passionate about developing new instrumentation and exploring the scientific discoveries they would enable. He had a broad mind, working across diverse fields of physics, an uncommon trait among today’s scientists. This broad scientific knowledge and curiosity were Patrick’s defining qualities. Crossing disciplinary borders, he organized an exchange with the Bauhaus University Weimar where art and design PhD students and professors met astrophysics students and scientists from TLS. Anybody who attended these meetings, will now view Jupiter in a different light.
But a life cannot be summarized in the many positions one had. Patrick was more than a mere scientist. His broadness of mind was patent in his musical culture: rock’n roll at heart but obviously psychedelic. He definitely liked to play music and his guitar; at the end of June, he put some songs on the soundcloud.com platform. Patrick’s artistic talents extended beyond music, as shown in this magnificent portrait of the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory under a sky full of aurorae and stars.
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Aurora over the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory. New Year’s card drawn by Patrick sent to TLS staff, and used as seasonal greetings of TLS in winter 2024/2025. Painting by Patrick Gaulme in India ink on “cappuccino” paper from Hahnemühle. |
Patrick was also a true Parisian, exploring the intricate tunnels of the catacombs, or sneaking on a scaffolding for exploring Notre Dame by night. He also had a great interest in photography, not the digital kind but the old-fashioned argentic one. He also paid a keen interest to the old oak tree in Meudon by making a time lapse of its evolution during his PhD thesis, showing his patience, contemplation, precision and rigor. He was also a true dreamer, fulfilling both his and Paola’s wish to own a fancy VW combi, and together they re-discovered the world around Las Cruces in this old fashioned “car”. Their dreams expanded along with their growing family.
Patrick is survived by his beloved wife Paola and their four children. Patrick was a beautiful mind, he will be deeply missed by his family, friends and collaborators. Patrick has returned to the stars, at peace and serene. We will not forget him.
Thierry Appourchaux, Laurent Gizon, Jason Jackiewicz, Benoît Mosser, Markus Roth, François-Xavier Schmider