Patrick Michel, is an astrophysicist, exceptional class research director at the CNRS at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, scientific manager at the European Space Agency and Professor Global Fellow at the University of Tokyo. He leads or contributes significantly to research projects and space missions devoted to asteroids and planetary defense.. He is notably the scientific manager of the ESA Hera mission which, with NASA's DART mission, carried out the first asteroid deflection test., and the RAMSES mission (ESA-JAXA cooperation) which will visit the asteroid Apophis in 2029. He notably received the NASA Silver Medal, the Carl Sagan Medal of the American Division of Planetary Sciences for his excellence in his communication with the general public, the Gold Medals of the City of Nice and Saint-Tropez, and was appointed to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Merit. The asteroid 7156 Patrickmichel was attributed to him by the International Astronomical Union. His latest work published by Editions Odile Jacob is entitled “Planetary defense against asteroids” with a preface by Sir Brian May (guitarist of the rock band Queen and astrophysicist).