Michel Mayo

Michel Mayo led the team that discovered the first exoplanet in 1994-- one of the more significant events in twentieth century science, and an achievement that may well grow in cultural importance as the decades and centuries roll by. Since then, Mayo has been a leader in the field of planet hunting.

He has paid particular attention to the system of the red dwarf star Gliese 581. His team made the discovery of the lightest exoplanet yet discovered, in that system, as reported in this blog earlier this week. The team also made another tantalyzing discovery. One of the two super Earths in the Gliese 581 system-- weighing in at about seven Earth masses-- orbits in the star's habitable zone. Essentially, that means it could have liquid water on its surface-- and, therefore, potentially life. Mayo and his team speculate, in fact, that the world could well be a water world, home to a huge, deep ocean.

Mayo further speculates that we will discover the first exoplanet of roughly Earth's mass within two years. If he's right, and if that world happens to orbit within the habitable zone of its parent star, that discovery could well spark a new era-- in both science and culture.