Didier Queloz is at the origin of the “exoplanet revolution” in astrophysics when in 1995 during his PhD with his supervisor they announced the first discovery of a giant planet orbiting another star, outside the solar system. This seminal discovery has spawned a revolution in astronomy and kick started the field of exoplanet research.
Over the next 25 years, Didier Queloz scientific contributions have essentially been to make progress in detection and measurement capabilities of exoplanet systems with the goal to retrieve information on their physical structure to better understand their formation and evolution by comparison with our solar system. More recently, he is directing his activity to the detection of Earth like planets and Universal life.
In the course of his career, he developed astronomical equipments, new observational approaches and detection algorithms. He participated and conducted programs leading to the detection of hundred planets, include breakthrough results. He participated to numerous documentaries movies, articles TV and radio interviews to share excitement and promote interest for science in general, and particularly topics about exoplanets and life in the Universe.
Didier Queloz is Professor in Astronomy at the University of Geneva and Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. He has been jointly awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Professor James Peebles and Professor Michel Mayor.