Geoffrey Marcy is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered. He along with R. Paul Butler and Debra Fischer discovered the planet designated 55 Pegasi b, the first in a solar system similar to ours. Previous planets had been detected in hostile pulsar systems.
Background
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 PH.D in Astrophysics, which he received in 1982.
He then held teaching positions, first at the Carnegie Institute of Washington as a Carnegie Fellow from 1982 to 1984, then as an Associate-Full Professor of Physics and Astronomy from 1984 to 1996, and then as a Distinguished University Professor from 1997 to 1999, both at San Francisco State University.
Marcy lives with his wife Susan in California and currently teaches courses at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University as an Adjunct Professor of Physics and Astronomy and a Professor of Astronomy respectively.
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