View source for Michel Mayor

{{Short description|Swiss astrophysicist & Nobel laureate of Physics}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Michel Mayor
| image             = Michel Mayor, 2012 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Mayor in 2012
| birth_name        = Michel Gustave Édouard Mayor
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1942|1|12|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Lausanne]], Switzerland
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| known_for         = Discovered first planet orbiting around a normal star, [[51 Pegasi]]
| awards            = [[Prix Jules Janssen]] (1998)<br/>[[Albert Einstein Medal]](2004)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.einstein-bern.ch/en/einstein-society|website=www.einstein-bern.ch|title=Michel Mayor received Einstein Medal}}</ref><br/>[[Shaw Prize]] (2005)<br/>[[Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences]] (2015)<br/>[[Wolf Prize]] (2017)<br/>[[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (2019)
| education         = [[University of Lausanne]] {{small|([[Master of Science|MS]])}}<br/>[[University of Geneva]] {{small|([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| fields            = [[Astrophysics]]
| workplaces        = [[University of Geneva]]
| thesis_title      = "The kinematical properties of stars in the solar vicinity: possible relation with the galactic spiral structure"
| thesis_url        = 
| thesis_year       = 1971
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = [[Didier Queloz]]
| notable_students  = 
}}

'''Michel Gustave Édouard Mayor''' ({{IPA|fr|miʃɛl majɔʁ}}; born 12 January 1942)<ref name="Cercle">{{cite web|url=http://cercleamitiesinternationales.blogspot.com/2007/09/conference-du-mercredi-26-septembre.html |title=Conference du 26 Septembre 2007 |publisher=Cercle des amities internationales, Geneve |date=September 2007|access-date=9 October 2019 | archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20200804162729/http://cercleamitiesinternationales.blogspot.ch/2007/09/conference-du-mercredi-26-septembre.html |archive-date=4 August 2020 |language=fr}}</ref> is a Swiss [[astrophysicist]] and professor emeritus at the [[University of Geneva]]'s Department of [[Astronomy]].<ref name="MPC-object" /> He formally retired in 2007, but remains active as a researcher at the [[Observatory of Geneva]]. He is co-laureate of the 2019 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] along with [[Jim Peebles]] and [[Didier Queloz]],<ref name="NYT-20191008">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/nobel-prize-physics.html|title=Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Cosmic Discoveries|last1=Chang|first1=Kenneth|date=8 October 2019|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=8 October 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191008141856/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/nobel-physics.html|archive-date=8 October 2019|last2=Specia|first2=Megan}}</ref> and the winner of the 2010 [[Viktor Ambartsumian#Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize|Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vaprize.sci.am/win2010.html|title=Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize|website=Vaprize.sci.am|date=18 July 2014|access-date=26 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914003737/http://vaprize.sci.am/win2010.html|archive-date=14 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the 2015 [[Kyoto Prize]].

Together with [[Didier Queloz]] in 1995, he discovered {{nobr|[[51 Pegasi b]]}}, the first [[extrasolar planet]] orbiting a sun-like star, [[51&nbsp;Pegasi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mayor |first1=Michel |last2=Queloz |first2=Didier |author-link2=Didier Queloz |date=November 1995 |title=A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=378 |issue=6555 |pages=355–359 |bibcode=1995Natur.378..355M |doi=10.1038/378355a0 |s2cid=4339201}}</ref> For this achievement, they were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2019/summary/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 |publisher=[[Nobel Media AB]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010162437/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2019/summary/ |archive-date=10 October 2019 |access-date=8 October 2019}}</ref> resulting in "contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos".<ref name="Wenz">{{cite journal |last1=Wenz |first1=John |title=Lessons from scorching hot weirdo-planets |journal=Knowable Magazine |publisher= Annual Reviews |date=10 October 2019 |doi=10.1146/knowable-101019-2|doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/physical-world/2019/hot-jupiter-formation-theories |access-date=4 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
Related to the discovery, Mayor noted that humans will never migrate to such exoplanets since they are "much, much too far away&nbsp;... [and would take] hundreds of millions of days using the means we have available today".<ref name="PHY-20191009" /> However, due to discoveries by Mayor, searching for [[extraterrestrial communications]] from [[exoplanet]]s may now be a more practical consideration than thought earlier.<ref name="NBC-20191009" />

==Education and career==
Mayor obtained an [[Master of Science|MS]] degree in [[Physics]] from the [[University of Lausanne]] (1966) and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] in [[Astronomy]] from the [[Geneva Observatory]] in 1971. He was a researcher at the [[Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge|Institute of Astronomy]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] in 1971. Subsequently, he spent [[sabbatical]] semesters at the [[European Southern Observatory]] (ESO) in northern Chile and at the [[Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii)|Institute for Astronomy]] of the [[University of Hawaiʻi System]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.planetary.org/connect/our-experts/profiles/michel-mayor.html|title=Michel Mayor|publisher=[[The Planetary Society]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808070521/http://www.planetary.org/connect/our-experts/profiles/michel-mayor.html|archive-date=8 August 2019|access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>

From 1971 to 1984, Mayor worked as a research associate at the [[Observatory of Geneva]], which is home to the astronomy department of the [[University of Geneva]]. He became an associate professor at the university in 1984.<ref name="Cercle" /> In 1988, the university named him a full professor, a position he held until his retirement in 2007. Mayor was director of the Observatory of Geneva from 1998 to 2004.<ref name="Cercle" /> He is a professor emeritus at the University of Geneva.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.planetary.org/connect/our-experts/profiles/michel-mayor.html |title=Michel Mayor|publisher=The Planetary Society |access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref>

==Research==
[[File:Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor at La Silla (6812451755).jpg|thumb|[[Didier Queloz]] and Michel Mayor at the [[La Silla Observatory]] (2012)]]
[[File:Video News Release 28 - 32 New Exoplanets Found (eso0939c).webm|thumb|Video: Michel Mayor speaks about the discovery of exoplanets (after 2:07)]]
Mayor's research interests include extrasolar planets (also known as [[exoplanets]]), instrumentation, statistical properties of [[double stars]], [[globular cluster]] dynamics, galactic structure and [[kinematics]]. Mayor's doctoral thesis at the University of Geneva was devoted to the spiral structure of galaxies.<ref name="Cercle" />

During his time as a research associate, there had been strong interest in developing [[Photoelectric effect|photoelectric]]-based [[Doppler spectroscopy|Doppler spectrometers]] to obtain more accurate measurements of [[radial velocity|radial velocities]] of stellar objects compared to existing photographic methods. Following preliminary work by [[Roger Griffin (astronomer)|Roger Griffin]] in 1967 to show the feasibility of photoelectric measurements of radial velocities, Mayor worked with André Baranne at the [[Marseille Observatory]] to develop CORAVEL, a photoelectric spectrometer capable of highly accurate radial velocity measurements, which allow measurement of star movements, orbital periods of [[binary stars]], and even the rotational speed of stars.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Analysis of Starlight: Two Centuries of Astronomical Spectroscopy | first=  John B. | last = Hearnshaw | pages = 114–116 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | year = 2014 | isbn = 978-1107031746}}</ref>

This research led to various fields of interest, including the study of statistical characteristics of solar-type binary stars. With fellow researcher Antoine Duquennoy, they examined the radial velocities of several systems believed to be binary stars in 1991. Their results found that a subset of these may in fact be single star systems with substellar secondary objects.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duquennoy |first1=Antoine |last2=Mayor |first2=Michel |date=August 1991 |title=Multiplicity among solar-type stars in the solar neighbourhood. II. Distribution of the orbital elements in an unbiased sample |url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1991A%26A...248..485D |format=PDF |journal=[[Astronomy & Astrophysics]]|volume=248|pages=485–524|bibcode=1991A&A...248..485D}}</ref> Desiring more accurate radial velocity measurements, Mayor, along with Baranne at Marseille, and with graduate student [[Didier Queloz]], developed [[ELODIE spectrograph|ELODIE]], a new spectrograph based on the work of CORAVEL, which was estimated to have an accuracy of 15&nbsp;m/s for bright stars, improving upon the 1&nbsp;km/s from CORAVEL. ELODIE was developed with the specific intent to determine if the substellar secondary objects were [[brown dwarf]] stars or potentially giant planets.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baranne |first1=A. |last2=Queloz |first2=D. |last3=Mayor |first3=M. |last4=Adrianzyk |first4=G. |last5=Knispel |first5=G. |last6=Kohler |first6=D. |last7=Lacroix |first7=D. |last8=Meunier |first8=J.-P. |last9=Rimbaud |first9=G. |last10=Vin |first10=A. |display-authors=1 |date=11 October 1996 |title=ELODIE: A spectrograph for accurate radial velocity measurements |url=https://aas.aanda.org/articles/aas/pdf/1996/14/ds1106.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplement Series |volume=119 |issue=2 |pages=373–390 |bibcode=1996A&AS..119..373B |doi=10.1051/aas:1996251 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809140134/https://aas.aanda.org/articles/aas/pdf/1996/14/ds1106.pdf |archive-date=9 August 2017 |access-date=9 October 2019 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

By 1994, ELODIE was operational at Geneva and Mayor and Queloz began their survey of Sun-like systems with suspected substellar secondary objects.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180416121621.htm|title=Once upon a time, an exoplanet was discovered|last=Springer|date=16 April 2018|work=[[Science Daily]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402075744/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180416121621.htm|archive-date=2 April 2019|access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref> In July 1995, the pair's survey of [[51&nbsp;Pegasi]] affirmed that there was an [[exoplanet]] orbiting it, identified as {{nobr|[[51 Pegasi b]]}}, which was later classified as a [[Hot Jupiter|hot-Jupiter]]–type planet. This was the first exoplanet to be found orbiting a [[main-sequence]] star, as opposed to planets that orbited the remains of a star.<ref name=nature378_6555_355>{{cite journal | last1=Mayor | first1=Michael | last2=Queloz | first2=Didier | title=A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star | journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | date=1995 | volume=378 | issue=6555 | pages=355–359 | doi=10.1038/378355a0 | bibcode = 1995Natur.378..355M | s2cid=4339201}}</ref> Mayor's and Queloz's discovery of an exoplanet launched great interest is searching for other exoplanets since.<ref name="gibn">{{cite journal |last1=Gibney |first1=Elizabeth |date=18 December 2013 |title=Michael Mayor: In search of sister earths |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=504 |issue=7480 |pages=357–365 |bibcode=2013Natur.504..357. |doi=10.1038/504357a |pmid=24352276 |doi-access=free}}</ref> On 21 March 2022, the 5000th exoplanet beyond the [[Solar System]] was confirmed.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cosmic-milestone-nasa-confirms-5000-exoplanets|title= Cosmic Milestone: NASA Confirms 5,000 Exoplanets|author= |date= 21 March 2022|publisher= NASA|accessdate=5 April 2022}}</ref>

Mayor's work focused more on improving instrumentation for radial velocity measurements to improve detecting exoplanets and measuring their properties. Mayor led a team to further improve ELODIE to increase velocity measurement accuracy to 1&nbsp;m/s via the [[High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher]] (HARPS) installed on the [[ESO 3.6&nbsp;m Telescope]] at [[La Silla Observatory]] in Chile by 2003.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Queloz |first1=D. |author-link=Didier Queloz |last2=Mayor |first2=M. |display-authors=etal |date=September 2001 |title=From CORALIE to HARPS. The way towards 1&nbsp;m&nbsp;s<sup>−1</sup> precision Doppler measurements |url=https://www.eso.org/sci/publications/messenger/archive/no.105-sep01/messenger-no105-1-7.pdf |magazine=[[The Messenger (astronomy magazine)|The Messenger]] |issue=105 |pages=1–7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130091548/https://www.eso.org/sci/publications/messenger/archive/no.105-sep01/messenger-no105-1-7.pdf |archive-date=30 January 2018 |access-date=10 October 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Mayor led the team that used HARPS to seek out other exoplanets. In 2007, Mayor was one of 11 European scientists who discovered [[Gliese 581c]], the first extrasolar planet in a star's habitable zone, from the ESO telescope.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/red-dwarf-is-mother-to-an-earth-like-planet-20070425-gdpzrd.html|title=Red dwarf is mother to an Earth-like planet|last=Borenstein|first=Seth|date=25 April 2007|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=17 March 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191010160050/https://www.smh.com.au/national/red-dwarf-is-mother-to-an-earth-like-planet-20070425-gdpzrd.html|archive-date=10 October 2019|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> In 2009, Mayor and his team discovered the lightest exoplanet ever detected around a [[main sequence]] star: [[Gliese 581e]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1051/0004-6361/200912172 |bibcode=2009A&A...507..487M |journal=[[Astronomy and Astrophysics]] |volume=507 |issue=1 |year=2009 |pages=487–494 |last1=Mayor |first1=Michel |last2=Bonfils |first2=Xavier |last3=Forveille |first3=Thierry |last4=Delfosse |first4=Xavier |last5=Udry |first5=Stéphane |last6=Bertaux |first6=Jean-Loup |last7=Beust |first7=Hervé |last8=Bouchy |first8=François |last9=Lovis |first9=Christophe |last10=Pepe |first10=Francesco |last11=Perrier |first11=Christian |last12=Queloz |first12=Didier |last13=Santos |first13=Nuno C. |title=The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets, XVIII. An Earth-mass planet in the GJ 581 planetary system |arxiv=0906.2780 |display-authors=3 |url=http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/Gl581_preprint.pdf |s2cid=2983930 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521052641/http://obswww.unige.ch/~udry/Gl581_preprint.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2009}}</ref> Nonetheless, Mayor noted that humans will never migrate to such exoplanets since they are "much, much too far away&nbsp;... [and would take] hundreds of millions of days using the means we have available today".<ref name="PHY-20191009">{{cite news|url=https://phys.org/news/2019-10-humans-migrate-planets-nobel-winner.html|title=Humans will not 'migrate' to other planets, Nobel winner says|author=Staff|date=9 October 2019|work=[[Phys.org]]|access-date=9 October 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010030153/https://phys.org/news/2019-10-humans-migrate-planets-nobel-winner.html|archive-date=10 October 2019}}</ref> However, due to discoveries by Mayor, searching for extraterrestrial communications from exoplanets may now be a more practical consideration than thought earlier.<ref name="NBC-20191009">{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/how-discovery-earned-nobel-prize-physics-transformed-hunt-alien-life-ncna1064171|title=How a discovery that earned the Nobel Prize in Physics transformed the hunt for alien life|last=Shostak|first=Seth|date=9 October 2019|access-date=9 October 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010155620/https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/how-discovery-earned-nobel-prize-physics-transformed-hunt-alien-life-ncna1064171|archive-date=10 October 2019|publisher=[[NBC News]]|author-link=Seth Shostak}}</ref>

==Awards and distinctions==
In 1998, Mayor was awarded the Swiss [[Marcel Benoist Prize]]<ref name="Cercle" /> in recognition of his work and its significance for human life. As of 2003, he was a member of the board of trustees. He received the [[Prix Jules Janssen]] from the [[Société astronomique de France]] (French Astronomical Society) in 1998.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://saf-astronomie.fr/prix-janssen/ | title= Prix Janssen | publisher = [[Société astronomique de France]] | access-date = 9 October 2019 | language = fr}}</ref>

In 2000, he was awarded the [[Balzan Prize]].<ref name="Cercle" /> Four years later, he was awarded the [[Albert Einstein Medal]].<ref name="Cercle" /> In 2005, he received the [[Shaw Prize]] in Astronomy, along with American astrophysicist [[Geoffrey Marcy]].<ref name="NYT-20140512">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/finder-of-new-worlds.html|title=Finder of New Worlds|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|date=12 May 2013|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=13 May 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517030523/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/science/finder-of-new-worlds.html|archive-date=17 May 2014|author-link=Dennis Overbye}}</ref> Mayor was made a knight of the French [[Legion d'Honneur]] in 2004.<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>

In collaboration with Pierre-Yves Frei, Mayor wrote a book in French called {{lang|fr|Les Nouveaux mondes du Cosmos}} ([[Seuil]], 260 pages), which was awarded the {{lang|fr|Livre de l'astronomie 2001}} prize by the 17th Astronomy Festival Haute Maurienne.<ref name="cv fr acad sci">{{cite web|url=https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/membre/MayorM_bio0510.pdf|title=Michel Mayor|date=3 May 2010|publisher=[[French Academy of Sciences]]|language=fr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010154752/https://www.academie-sciences.fr/pdf/membre/MayorM_bio0510.pdf|archive-date=10 October 2019|access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref>

Mayor has received honorary doctorate degrees from eight universities: [[Katholieke Universiteit Leuven]] ([[Belgium]]), 2001; [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne|École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)]] ([[Lausanne]], Switzerland) (2002); [[Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte]] ([[Brazil]]), 2006; [[Uppsala University]] ([[Sweden]]), 2007; [[Paris Observatory]] ([[France]]), 2008; [[Université Libre de Bruxelles]] (Belgium), 2009; [[University of Provence]] ([[Marseille]], France), 2011, and [[Université Joseph Fourier]] ([[Grenoble]], France), 2014.<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>

Mayor has received the 2011 [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards|BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] of Basic Sciences (together with his former student [[Didier Queloz]]) for developing new astronomical instruments and experimental techniques that led to the first observation of planets around Sun-like stars.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es/version/edition_2011/ | title= The BBVA Foundation presents its Frontiers of Knowledge Awards at a ceremony enthroning science and culture as motors of development | date = 12 June 2012 | access-date =9 October 2019 | publisher = [[BBVA Foundation]]}}</ref> Asteroid [[125076&nbsp;Michelmayor]], discovered by Swiss amateur astronomer [[Michel Ory]] at the [[Jura Observatory]] in 2001, was named in his honor.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The official {{MoMP|125076|naming citation}} was published by the [[Minor Planet Center]] on 21 August 2013 ({{small|[[Minor Planet Circulars|M.P.C.]] 84674}}).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />

In 2015, he was awarded the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/2553-winners-of-the-2015-awards-medals-and-prizes|title=Winners of the 2015 awards, medals and prizes - full details|publisher=[[Royal Astronomical Society]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320054200/https://www.ras.org.uk/awards-and-grants/awards/2553-winners-of-the-2015-awards-medals-and-prizes|archive-date=20 March 2017|access-date=26 March 2017}}</ref> and the [https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/michel_mayor/ Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences]. In 2017, he received the [[Wolf Prize in Physics]].<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Wolf-Prize-to-be-awarded-to-eight-laureates-from-US-UK-and-Switzerland-477364 Jerusalempost Wolf Prizes 2017], jpost.com; accessed 26 March 2017.</ref> He and [[Didier Queloz]] (also from Switzerland) were awarded one half of the 2019 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for the discovery of the exoplanet [[51 Pegasi b]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2019/summary/|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019|publisher= [[Nobel Media AB]]|access-date= 8 October 2019}}</ref>

==Participation in professional associations==
*Publisher and organizer of nine Saas-Fee Advanced Courses of the Swiss Society of Astrophysics and Astronomy<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Member of the editorial board of ''Europhysics News'', 1985–1990<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Swiss delegate for the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA)'s Astronomical Working Group, 1985–1987<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*President of the [[International Astronomical Union]] (IAU)'s Commission 33 on the "Structure and dynamics of the galactic system, 1988–1991<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Chairman of the [[European Southern Observatory]]'s Scientific Technical Committee, 1990–1992<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*President of the Swiss Society of Astrophysics and Astronomy (SAAS), 1990–1993<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Member of the organizing committee of the IAU Commission on Bioastronomy, 1997–2003<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Swiss delegate to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council, 2003–2007<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*President of the IAU commission on extra-solar planets, 2006–2009<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
* Foreign Associate of the [[French Academy of Sciences]] (Académie des sciences), 2003<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] (UK), 2008<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Foreign member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] (US), 2010<ref name="cv fr acad sci"/>
*Foreign member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 2010

==References==
<references>
<ref name="MPC-object">{{cite web
 |title      = 125076 Michelmayor (2001 UD6)
 |work       = Minor Planet Center
 |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=125076
 |access-date = 12 August 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive">{{cite web
 |title      = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive
 |work       = Minor Planet Center
 |url        = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html
 |access-date = 12 August 2019}}</ref>
</references> <!-- end of reflist -->

==External links==
{{Scholia}}
*[https://exoplanets.ch/team/faculty-members/michel-mayor/ Michel Mayor's profile] on [[University of Geneva]] website
*{{Nobelprize}} including his Nobel lecture Sunday 8 December 2019 "Plurality of Worlds in the Cosmos: A Dream of Antiquity, A Modern Reality of Astrophysics"
*[https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/michel_mayor/ Michel Mayor's profile] on Kyoto Prize website
{{Nobel Prize in Physics}}
{{2019 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Shaw Prize}}
{{Wolf Prize in Physics}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Switzerland|Physics|Outer space|Astronomy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayor, Michel G}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Swiss astronomers]]
[[Category:21st-century Swiss astronomers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Lausanne]]
[[Category:Albert Einstein Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Discoverers of exoplanets]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Geneva]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Swiss Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Physics laureates]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii) people]]