Antoine mile Henry Labeyrie

Antoine Émile Henry Labeyrie, born on 12 May 1943, is a French astronomer known for his contributions to observational astrophysics. He served as a professor at the Collège de France from 1991 to 2014 and currently holds the title of emeritus professor. Labeyrie is the president of Hypertelescope Lise, an organization focused on developing an extremely large astronomical interferometer with spherical geometry. This project aims to potentially observe features of Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.

Labeyrie graduated from SupOptique, a prestigious school for optics. He is renowned for inventing speckle interferometry and his work on astronomical interferometers, particularly his use of "diluted optics" or "densified pupils," which contrasts with the methods used by other researchers during the 1980s and 1990s. His contributions have earned him recognition, including an asteroid named 8788 Labeyrie and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in 2000.

Labeyrie has proposed a Hypertelescope project involving a space-based interferometer array arranged in a spherical configuration. This design aims to reduce pathlength compensation challenges when re-pointing the array and could theoretically enable detailed imaging of exoplanets. However, the project's complexity and cost have been noted as significant hurdles. Labeyrie's work continues to influence advancements in astronomical imaging and the study of exoplanets.