Bio:

Youssef Moulane is a Research Scientist in Space Science and Astronomy at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Morocco. He was born in a small village in Rahamna province in Marrakech region. He began his education in the same village, where he earned his baccalaureate in physical sciences in 2010. He then joined Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Physics in 2013, followed by a Master’s degree in High Energy Physics and Astrophysics in 2015.

For his master’s thesis, he worked on the detection of celestial objects such as asteroids and comets using data from the Oukaïmeden Observatory, under joint supervision from the University of Liège (Belgium) and Cadi Ayyad University (Morocco).

In this context, he began his doctoral research in 2016, jointly between Cadi Ayyad University and the University of Liège, focusing on the physical and chemical properties of comets. Comets are among the oldest bodies in the solar system and allow us to study the primordial material from which our solar system formed. In 2017, he completed a research stay at the University of Le Havre in France, where he worked on a theoretical topic involving electron collisions with molecular ions in cometary atmospheres. In 2018, he moved to the University of Liège to continue his PhD research, using observational data collected from the TRAPPIST telescopes in Morocco and Chile.

In 2019, he received a two-year international fellowship at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile to finalize his doctoral thesis. ESO is one of the largest astronomical observatories in the world, hosting three major observing sites. He defended his PhD thesis in March 2021. As part of a collaboration with researchers from various European universities, he contributed to the discovery of cyanogen (CN) gas molecules in the first known interstellar comet. This marked the first-ever detection of gas in an interstellar object by astronomers. At the end of 2021, he moved to Auburn University in the United States to continue his research in the same field, where he published several scientific papers.

In January 2024, he joined Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), where he is working on a project focused on advancing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) research by integrating theoretical modeling with experimental approaches. His work contributes to ongoing international CMB initiatives while establishing a research program at UM6P. The project aims to explore the CMB as a powerful probe of early-universe phenomena, including cosmic inflation, primordial gravitational waves, and potential dark matter interactions. This involves both the development of CMB instrumentation and the analysis of observational data, with the objective of producing refined theoretical models and experimental techniques. These efforts are intended to support current and future CMB observational missions and to train young researchers within an innovative and collaborative research environment.

In addition to his academic career, Youssef Moulane has a deep passion for astronomy outreach targeted at the general public. Over the past years, he has been actively involved in organizing various events and workshops for children and students in schools and institutions across multiple Moroccan cities. He also played a key role in coordinating virtual lectures shared through social media platforms.

For him, science communication and public outreach are not just side interests but represent a core responsibility of scientists and astronomers. He believes it is essential to ensure that science and astronomy are accessible to everyone, beyond academic circles. “We have a duty to share knowledge with the broader community as a way of giving back to the society that we are an integral part of,” he says.

In 2023, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced that asteroid 33903 would be named “Youssefmoulane” in recognition of his contributions to the study of small bodies in the solar system.