Geoff Marcy, Ph.D., popular “planet hunter” and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the Ferguson Lecture for the Assembly Series at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, in Graham Chapel. The lecture is free and open to the public.
As the title of his talk “The Search for Habitable Worlds and Life in the Universe” suggests, the quest for signs of advanced civilizations continues despite minimal advances in understanding Earth-like planets. According to Marcy, that is about to change, as new telescopes are being developed that will jump start a worldwide race for finding habitable worlds and extraterrestrial life.
In 2006, Marcy’s research team discovered more than 120 of the nearly 200 known extrasolar planets. Their study of the planets’ masses, radii and orbits continue in the hope of understanding their origins. Even more impressive is the list of “firsts” to Marcy’s credit: identifying the first multiple planet system; the first Saturn-sized planet; and the most Earth-like planet, to name a few.
In addition to teaching at Berkeley, Marcy serves as director for the Center for Integrative Planetary Science; he also is an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University.
Marcy has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences and has received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement as well as the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2005. Other honors include the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization and Discover magazine’s Space Scientist of the Year in 2003. He was named California Scientist of the Year in 2000.
Marcy earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
For more information on the Assembly Series, visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call (314) 935-4620.