Jean-Luc Margot, professor of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences and of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA, has been awarded a Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair for the 2026–27 academic year, one of the highest honors in the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. The program recognizes outstanding American scholars and supports research and teaching at leading French universities and research institutions. Only two Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chairs are awarded each year across all academic disciplines.
Margot was also awarded an International Francqui Professor Chair for the 2026–27 academic year. Presented by the Francqui Foundation to a few foreign scholars each year, the award is designed to promote inter-university cooperation and excellence in research. The Francqui Foundation was founded in 1932 by Belgian diplomat Emile Francqui and U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
In connection with these awards, Margot will spend the 2026–27 academic year at the Paris Observatory, the University of Nantes, and four universities in Belgium, where he will conduct research on the spin states and interior structures of Venus and icy satellites while collaborating with European colleagues and mentoring students.
“I am deeply grateful to the colleagues who supported my applications and I look forward to engaging in person with them this academic year,” Margot said.
An internationally recognized expert in planetary science, Margot studies the physical and dynamical properties of planets, moons, and asteroids. His research combines radar observations, spacecraft data and theoretical modeling to investigate the origins and evolution of planetary systems. He has made pioneering contributions to the study of the rotation and interiors of planets, and the properties and trajectories of near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroids.
Some of Margot’s research in Europe will involve improving the knowledge of the spin state and interior structure of Venus, which is the target of the European Space Agency’s EnVision mission. Margot is an interdisciplinary scientist on the EnVision team.
The Fulbright-Tocqueville and Francqui recognitions cap an exceptional year of international honors for Margot. Earlier this year, he was elected as an associate member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, one of Europe’s oldest and most distinguished scientific academies. Founded in 1772, the Academy has counted Charles Darwin, André-Marie Ampère, Georges Lemaître, Harold Urey and numerous Nobel laureates among its members. Membership in its Science Class is limited to 60 members and 50 associate members. In 2026, the academy elected only two new associate members from an international pool of scientists spanning all scientific disciplines. Margot was also awarded the title of Corresponding Astronomer of the Royal Observatory of Belgium.
Margot’s primary hosts in France are Professors Nicolas Rambaux and Jacques Laskar at the Paris Observatory and Professor Caroline Dumoulin at University of Nantes. In Belgium, Margot’s hosts are Professors Dimitri Lederer and Véronique Dehant at UCLouvain, Professors Michaël Gillon, Emmanuel Jehin, and Emmanuelle Javaux at ULiège, Professor Anne-Sophie Libert at UNamur, and Professor Tim Van Hoolst at KULeuven.