Beau Soleil welcomes Nobel Laureate, Michel Mayor

Meeting the man who revolutionized the world of astrophysics was an opportunity not to be missed for Beau Soleil’s budding scientists. Professor Mayor shared his extraordinary understanding of the workings of the universe with an attentive audience of Physics students and their teachers.

Nobel Prize in Physics

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2019 for the discovery of the first planet located outside of our solar system, Professor Mayors discovery revolutionised the world of astrophysics and has led to the subsequent discovery of more than 4000 exoplanets.

“It was really eye-opening to hear the ideas from a real expert in the field,” said one student after the conference which literally put the stars in the eyes of each of our students. Students were captivated by Professor Mayors presentation covering his research on stellar kinematics, the dynamics of globular clusters and the study of solar-type binary stars, all of which led to the development of the highly precise spectrograph which enabled him to discover 51 Pegasi B.

Inspiring Discussion

With their curiosity sparked, the students’ interest in the lecture and its impact on them were clear from the many questions they asked and the discussions which continued long into the afternoon over refreshments. Giving her feedback at the end of the day, Chantal from Grade 11 captured the feeling of everyone in the room, “he showed me that there is so much more to discover”

A Rich Guest Speaker Programme

From Nobel prize winners to top athletes, authors, film makers and more, the Beau Soleil Guest Speaker programme brings inspirational speakers from around the world to share their experience with the leaders of tomorrow.

It was an honour to welcome Professor Mayor to Beau Soleil. We thank him for sharing his expertise with us and challenging us to think in new ways about the future of our planet.