Didier Queloz
Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich
I am an astronomer and astrophysicist known for discovering with Michel Mayor the first exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star, 51 Pegasi b, in 1995. This breakthrough launched the exoplanet revolution and transformed our understanding of planetary systems. My work has been recognised with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics, the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award, the Wolf Prize among others. I am Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe and Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. I am also Professor of Physics at ETH Zurich, where I direct the Centre for the Origin and Prevalence of Life, and Professor of Physics at the University of Geneva. I am a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Alongside my research, I am committed to the dissemination of scientific knowledge and actively engage in science education.
EXPs by Didier Queloz
Science is always grounded in data. Theories evolve, but data remain. Science is driven by an ongoing effort to make sense of the universe based on what we observe.
For every star there is at least one planet, if not more. Now the question is what is the planet like? And that is still to be found.
We are the first species to reach this level of consciousness — perhaps the only one in the galaxy, or even in the universe at this moment. But there is a price that comes with this level of consciousness: the power to understand the universe.