Geoffrey Marcy

Curriculum Vitae

Geoffrey Marcy

Geoffrey Marcy

Director,
Space Laser Awareness

Biography

  • Geoff Marcy is best known for leading the discovery of 70 out of the first 100 exoplanets ever found around other stars.
  • Dr. Marcy, with Erik Petigura and Dr. Andrew Howard, used NASA’s Kepler data to determine the Occurrence Rate of Earth-Sized Planets around Sun-like stars (Petigura, Howard, and Marcy 2013). Their research revealed that about 20% of all Sun-like stars have Earth-sized planets with temperatures suitable for liquid water and potentially for biology. Our Milky Way Galaxy thus contains at least 10 billion luke-warm Earth-sized planets, potentially suitable for life.
  • Dr. Marcy launched a major search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, Breakthrough Listen, funded by Yuri Milner, and he continues to lead major SETI searches with several telescopes operated by Space Laser Awareness.
  • Discovered the first system of planets around a Sun-like star (Upsilon Andromeda), with collaborators at Harvard University and with Paul Butler and Debra Fischer.
  • The first transiting planet ever found, co-discovered on November 8, 1999.  The planet blocked starlight as it crossed in front of the star, HD 209258.  This proved that the planets claimed by Mayor’s and Marcy’s teams actual exist
  • Dr. Marcy, working with Dr. Andrew Howard, launched funding and construction of the new spectrometer, the Keck Planet Finder, at the Keck Observatory
  • Dr. Marcy acquired the major funding, from the U.S. Naval Observatory, for the Automated Planet Finder telescope at Lick Observatory.
  • His student, Dr. Debra Fischer, led a determination of the occurrence rate of binary stars among the smallest stars, the “M dwarfs”. Another student, Dr. Lauren Weiss, led a determination of the relationship between the sizes and masses of exoplanets, showing that the smallest ones have the density of rock, like our Earth. Both research papers have acquired over 500 citations. Another student, Dr. Kathryn Peek, determined the enrichment of our Milky Way Galaxy of the heaviest atoms, fused in supernova explosions. Dr. Marcy current works with Dr. Beatriz Villarroel and her VASCO team and with Brian Hill  in a search for transients, extraterrestrial intelligent life and Unidentified Anomalous Objects (UAP).
  • Dr. Marcy spent his career fighting for equal rights and a welcoming environment for all people, including women, people of color, and all underrepresented groups. Here are the facts about the Title IX investigation that took place in 2015.
  • Dr. Marcy is now retired, living with his wife of 30 years, helping her build a pollinator-friendly organic farm and butterfly haven.
Other Major Discoveries

Awards

Award Image

2005

The Shaw Prize (shared with M. Mayor)

2009

Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization “Wonderfest”

2010

Elected to be a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

2013

The Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences:Prevalence of Earth-Size Planets Orbiting Sun-Like Stars

Education

  • 1976  B.A. Double Major, Physics and Astronomy, UCLA; Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa
  • 1982  Ph.D. Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Promoting Equal Opportunity

Dr. Marcy spent his career fighting for equal rights, equal opportunity, and a welcoming, safe environment for all people, including women, people of color, and all underrepresented groups. He worked with leaders including Vera Rubin and Margaret Burbidge to promote equal opportunity and encouragement for women and underserved minorities in science. Here are the facts about the Title IX investigation that took place in 2015.

Publication Record

  • 746 Publications with G.Marcy first author or co-author,1979-2024
  • 83,552 Citations of all publications with author or co-author G.Marcy.
  • h-index: 148 (148 of his publications have more than 148 citations.)
  • A list of all publications
    in Google Scholar with a link to https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BpJMstEAAAAJ&hl=en

  • Celsius-Linné Lecture, Uppsala, Sweden (24 February 2011)
  • The Distinguished Pappalardo Lecture in Physics: MIT, 6 Dec 2012
  • The Next 40 Years of Exoplanets – 27 May 2011: Lecture at MIT
  • Neil Armstrong’s Invited Lectures by D.Des Marais and G.Marcy (Dec 2010)
  • NEWVISION400: Beijing, Great Hall of the People: “The Search for Earths and Life in the Universe” (12 Oct 2008)
  • John Bahcall Lecturer (Hubble Space Telescope Inst. & Goddard S.F.C.), National Air and Space Museum: “New Worlds, Yellowstone, and Life in the Universe” (11 Dec 2007)
  • “NASA Astrobiology Institute” Getting to the Core of Exoplanets: From Gas Giants to Ice Giants (3 Dec 2007)
  • George Gamow Lecture (at Univ. Colorado) (6 April 2006)
  • Niels Bohr Lecture (at the N. B. Institute) (8 Dec 2005)
  • Sackler Lecturer, Universiteit Leiden (Dec 2001)
  • National Science Foundation Distinguished Lecturer (23 Oct 2000)
  • G.Darwin Lecture, Royal Astronomical Society (14 Jan 2000)
  • Invited Lecture and Exhibit, Centennial Meeting of American Physical Society (1999)
  • Bunyan Lecturer, Physics Department, Stanford University (1997)

  • Member of “Men Against Rape” Santa Cruz 1977-1982
  • Forced Lick Observatory to remove degrading pornography (1980)
  • Worked with Vera Rubin to promote a welcoming environment for women at Carnegie Science (1983)
  • Member, Organization for Women at Caltech (1982-1984)
  • Elected Member, “Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy” of the American Astronomical Society (1990 – 1993)
  • Attended “Take Back the Night” meetings and marches in Berkeley (1999-2015)
  • Mentored Masters and Ph.D. dissertations for 9 female students (e.g. Drs. L.Weiss, D.Fischer, K.Peek)
  • Financial Support of San Francisco Women Against Rape, 1985 – present.

Personal Information

Geoff and Susan
Geoff Marcy with Dr. Susan Kegley

Married 31 years, 1994 to present

Dr. Marcy is now retired, living with his wife of 31 years, helping her build a pollinator-friendly organic farm and butterfly haven.