Didier Queloz

Awards & Honours

Awards Won

Honours

Rankings

Records

Didier Queloz stands as a titan of modern astrophysics. His discovery of 51 Pegasi b in 1995 launched the exoplanet revolution, shifting the field from speculation to empirical discovery. He is one of the few scientists to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize and the Kavli Prize for the same body of work. His leadership in developing high-precision spectrographs like HARPS has enabled the cataloging of thousands of exoplanets. As of 2026, he continues to drive the search for life beyond Earth, holding a prestigious chair established by Isaac Newton and directing a major research center at ETH Zurich.

AwardsDidier Queloz has received numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to astrophysics. Most notably, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019, sharing half of the prize with Michel Mayor for the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star. He also received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2019 and the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics in 2020. In 2012, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the highest honors in British science. He has also received multiple honorary doctorates from universities across Europe and North America.

Honours & Distinctions

Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society·2012

Elected for outstanding contributions to astrophysics

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy

University of Cambridge·2015

Holds the prestigious chair established by Isaac Newton

Rankings & Lists

#49

Most Famous Person from Switzerland

iFANN Global Fame Rankings·2026

Records & Feats

First Exoplanet Orbiting a Sun-like Star

Historic First·1995

Discovered 51 Pegasi b in 1995, proving planetary systems exist beyond our solar system

Youngest Co-Discoverer of an Exoplanet

Career Milestone·1995

Made the discovery while still a PhD student at age 29