Michel Mayor, 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics, talks about other worlds in the Universe at CosmoCaixa

Michel Mayor (Lausanne, Switzerland, 1942) is one of the astrophysicists who in 1995 detected the first exoplanet, i.e. a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun and, therefore, does not belong to the solar system. The Swiss scientist was awarded in 2019, together with his research partner Didier Queloz, the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

The session will be moderated by Dr Ignasi Ribas, director of IEEC and astrophysicist and researcher expert in exoplanets at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC). During the lecture, Mayor will delve into the existence of different worlds in the Universe and how many of these could be inhabited. These are questions that ancient philosophers were already wondering more than 2000 years ago. However, it is only since the discovery of exoplanets that thousands of planetary systems other than our own have been detected. Thanks to Mayor and Queloz's discovery, we now know that not only do inconceivable planets outside our solar system exist in the Universe, but that they are legion: since then, 4057 exoplanets have been discovered, some of them sized as Earth and capable of harbouring life. By combining various techniques, it is now possible to study the mass, size, chemical composition and atmosphere of these planets.

Mayor's conference is the first in a new series of ‘Science's Greats’, which will feature illustrious personalities in science who have contributed milestones or excellent discoveries to the world.