Cosmology & Exoplanets
James Peebles, Michel Mayor & Didier Queloz
About This Prize
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded with one half to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.” Peebles’ theoretical framework, developed since the mid-1960s, forms the foundation of our modern understanding of the universe’s history from the Big Bang to the present day, while Mayor and Queloz’s 1995 discovery of 51 Pegasi b revolutionized astronomy by confirming that planets exist around other Sun-like stars, launching the vibrant field of exoplanet science.
James Peebles
“How Physical Cosmology Grew”
Didier Queloz
“Plurality of Worlds in the Cosmos: A Dream of Antiquity, A Modern Reality of Astrophysics”
Michel Mayor
“Exoplanets: 51 Pegasi b and All the Others...”
Key Concepts
- • CMB Predictions & the ΛCDM Model: Peebles’ theoretical framework predicted properties of the cosmic microwave background and established the Lambda-CDM cosmological model as the standard description of the universe
- • Radial Velocity Method: The technique of detecting exoplanets by measuring the tiny Doppler shifts in a star’s spectrum caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting planet
- • 51 Pegasi b: The first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star (1995), a “hot Jupiter” that challenged existing theories of planetary formation
- • Over 5,000 Confirmed Exoplanets: Since the pioneering discovery, thousands of exoplanets have been confirmed using multiple detection methods, revealing extraordinary planetary diversity