Author: Alessandro Morbidelli, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur

Title: Formation and evolution of our solar system: some hints for 
understanding the great diversity of extra-solar systems.

Abstract: In the last 10 years we have focused our work to reconstruct 
the evolution of our solar system, from the phase dominated by the 
interactions of the planets with the proto-planetary nebula up to the 
current time. We have now build a quite coherent scenario of the solar 
system evolution that allows us to explain most of its current 
properties. This scenario will be detailed at this conference.
It shows that the current structure of the solar system is
due to a sequence of specific "accidents". Thus, we can ask ourselves 
the question of what would our system look like if some of these 
"accidents" had not occurred or had they occurred differently. This 
exercise suggests some venues to explain the great diversity in the 
structures of the extra-solar planetary systems observed to date.