Geoffrey Marcy

Geoffrey W. Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered, along with R. Paul Butler and Debra Fischer. He also confirmed Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz's discovery of the first extrasolar planet 51 Pegasi b. Other achievements have included discovering the first multiple planet system around a star similar to our own (Upsilon Andromedae), the first tra... more

Geoffrey W. Marcy (born September 29, 1954) is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered, along with R. Paul Butler and Debra Fischer. He also confirmed Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz's discovery of the first extrasolar planet 51 Pegasi b. Other achievements have included discovering the first multiple planet system around a star similar to our own (Upsilon Andromedae), the first transiting planet around another star (HD209458b), the first extrasolar planet orbiting beyond 5 AU (55 Cancri d), and the first Neptune-sized planets (Gliese 436b and 55 Cancri e). Marcy and Michel Mayor received the $1 million Shaw Prize in astronomy in 2005 for their work. Marcy received a Bachelor of Arts double major in physics and astronomy at UCLA and graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1976. He then went on to the University of California, Santa Cruz for a PhD in Astrophysics, which he received in 1982. He has held teaching positions, first at... less