Alexander Shapiro

Dr. Alexander Shapiro is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), leading the 'Connecting Solar and stellar Variables (SOLVe)' group funded by an ERC Starting Grant. His work focuses on solar and stellar variability, investigating why the Sun's brightness fluctuations are weaker than those of similar stars. Key research areas include magnetic processes, exoplanet detection contamination, and the application of solar models to distant stars.

Education: Studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of St. Petersburg (Russia), earned a PhD from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2009. Postdoctoral positions included the Physical Meteorological Observatory in Davos and a Marie Curie Fellowship at MPS.

Research emphasizes solar-stellar connections, stellar activity cycles, and the impact of magnetic fields on brightness variations. His ERC project bridges solar and stellar research to improve exoplanet detection and characterize stellar behavior. Key findings include the discovery that sun-like stars are more active than the Sun and that stellar contamination can mask exoplanet signals.

Awards: ERC Starting Grant (2017). Ongoing research includes PLATO mission contributions, limb-darkening modeling, and solar irradiance studies.