Commission 53 on Extrasolar Planets was created at the 2006 Prague General Assembly of the IAU, in recognition of the outburst of astronomical progress in the field of extrasolar planet discovery, characterization, and theoretical work that has occurred since the discovery of the pulsar planets in 1992 and the discovery of the first planet in orbit around a solar-type star in 1995. Commission 53 is the logical successor to the IAU Working Group on Extrasolar Planets WG-ESP, which ended its six years of existence in August 2006. The founding president of Commission 53 is Michael Mayor, in honor of his seminal contributions to this new field of astronomy. The vice-president is Alan Boss, the former chair of the WG-ESP, and the members of the Commission 53 Organizing Committee are the other former members of the WG-ESP.