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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.
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 PhD in Astrophysics, which he received in 1982. He has held teaching positions, first at the Carnegie Institution of Washington as a Carnegie Fellow from 1982 to 1984, then as an associate professor of physics and astronomy from 1984 to 1996, and as a Distinguished University Professor from 1997 to 1999, both at San Francisco State University. Today he is an adjunct professor at San Francisco State University and a Professor of Astronomy at UC Berkeley. On October 28, 2006 he received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Delaware. Marcy lives with his wife Susan Kegley in California. See also | |||||||||||||||||||||
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