Yvan Dutil

Who is Yvan Dutil?

Yvan Dutil is a Canadian astrophysicist who, together with his colleague Stéphane Dumas, has created a noise-resistant coding system for messages aimed at communicating with extraterrestrial civilization. This system was used in the creation of messages beamed towards close stars from the Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope in Ukraine in 1999 and 2003. He is also a member of the Bioastronomy Commission of the International Astronomical Union and of the International Academy of Astronautics's Permanent Committee on the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

He was a candidate for the Green Party of Quebec in the Quebec election of September 2008, and for the Green Party of Canada in the Canadian federal election of 2011.

He is also very active in fighting light pollution in Québec, specially about the creation of a Dark Sky preserve around Mont Mégantic Observatory.

The history of astronomy also attracts him, as well as the voting system reform and all matters of durable development. He also always asks a lot of questions during the meetings of the Mont Mégantic Research Centre.