Michel Mayor

Michel G. E. Major (born January 12, 1942) was a Swiss professor in the Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva.
Along with Didier Queloz in 1995 he discovered exoplanet, 51 Pegasi b, orbiting sun-like star, 51 Pegasi.


After studying Physics at the University of Lausanne, Major received his doctorate in astronomy at the Observatory of Geneva, 1971. Among other places, he had worked at the observatory at Cambridge, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile and the observatory in Hawaii.


Until 1998 he has been a co-author of more than 200 scientific publications. From 1989 to 1992 he was engaged in scientific research at ESO, from 1988 to 1991 he worked in the field of structural studies of the galaxy along with the International Astronomical Union, and from 1990 to 1993 he was with the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy.


Since the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, Michel Mayor and his research team, involved in many other extrasolar planet discoveries. In 2007, he was one of 12 European researchers who discovered Gliese 581 c, discovered the first extrasolar planet in the habitable zone of a star, using the ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile.