Marcy has held teaching and research positions, first at theCarnegie Institution of Washington (then theMt. Wilson andLas Campanas Observatories) as a Carnegie fellow from 1982 to 1984.[1] He then worked as an associate professor of physics and astronomy from 1984 to 1996 and then as a distinguished university professor from 1997 to 1999 at theSan Francisco State University.[13]
Marcy was a professor of astronomy and the Watson and Marilyn Alberts Chair for SETI[3][14] at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1999 through 2015. From 2000 to 2012, he was the director of UC Berkeley's Center for Integrative Planetary Science. Marcy was also one of the project leaders of theBreakthrough Initiatives that will search for intelligent life in the universe, using large radio and optical telescopes.[15][16]
Marcy and his team confirmedMichel Mayor andDidier Queloz's discovery of the first extrasolar planet orbiting a Sun-like star—51 Pegasi b.[17] Two months later, Marcy and his team announced the discovery of two additional planets around47 Ursae Majoris[18] and70 Virginis.[19] Other achievements include discovering the first multiple planet system around a star similar to our own (Upsilon Andromedae),[5][6] the firsttransiting planet around another star, simultaneously withDavid Charbonneau and Timothy Brown (HD 209458 b), the first extrasolar planet orbiting beyond fiveAU (55 Cancri d),[20] and the first Neptune-sized planets (Gliese 436b and55 Cancri e).[21] Marcy was a co-investigator of the NASA Kepler mission[7] that discovered over 4000 exoplanets, most being smaller than four times the size of Earth. His team, led by Erik Petigura and Andrew Howard, showed that approximately 20% of Sun-like stars have a planet of one to two times the size of Earth and receive incident stellar light within a factor of four of the light the Earth receives from the Sun, making them warm planets, many of which accommodate liquid water.[22]
In May 2017, Marcy co-authored studies related tolaser light emissions from stars, as a way of detecting technology-related signals from analien civilization. The study includedTabby's Star (KIC 8462852), an oddly dimming star whose unusual light fluctuations may be the result of interference by an artificial megastructure, such as aDyson swarm, made by such a civilization. No evidence was found for technology-related signals from Tabby's Star in the studies.[23][24]
A six-month investigation by theUniversity of California, Berkeley,Title IX office concluded in 2015 with the finding that Marcy had violated the university'ssexual harassment policy[26] between 2001 and 2010.[27][28][29] Four complaints were filed with the university's Title IX office, one of which Marcy denied.[30] As a consequence, the university "imposed real consequences on Professor Geoff Marcy by establishing a zero tolerance policy regarding future behavior and by stripping him of the procedural protections that all other faculty members enjoy".[31]
At least three additional allegations had been made against Marcy as early as 1995 while he was atSan Francisco State University, as corroborated by Penny Nixon, then SFSU's sexual harassment officer.[32] A former graduate student of Marcy, now faculty member at Harvard, called Marcy's harassing behavior an "open secret" in the astronomy community.[28] Marcy's alleged actions included unwanted massages, kisses, and groping.[28]
On October 7, 2015, Marcy posted an "Open Letter to the Astronomy Community" stating "While I do not agree with each complaint that was made, it is clear that my behavior was unwelcomed by some women. I take full responsibility and hold myself completely accountable for my actions and the impact they had. For that and to the women affected, I sincerely apologize."[33]
On October 12, 2015, the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department met and released a statement asserting that Marcy was "inadequately disciplined"[31] by the university, and "we believe that Geoff Marcy cannot perform the functions of a faculty member."[34][35]
On the same day, Marcy resigned as principal investigator of theBreakthrough Listen project.[36] Two days later, on October 14, 2015, he indicated his intention to step down from his professorship at UC Berkeley.[9][10] Marcy retained the title ofemeritus despite his resignation.[37]
In 2023, a paper co-authored by Marcy with theAmerican Astronomical Society drew criticism from graduate students who had collected data for the project but were not offeredco-authorship. As harassment, including sexual harassment, is not classified asresearch misconduct by the group, Marcy's name was not disincluded from the paper.[38] One of Marcy's junior collaborators in Sweden published an essay stating that she is subjected to harassment, bullying, and discrimination from the astronomy community for her decision to work with Marcy.[39]
^abc"Kepler Team".Kepler: A Search For Habitable Planets. Ames Research Center. April 10, 2015. Archived fromthe original on May 28, 2010. RetrievedAugust 18, 2015.
^"UCLA Spotlight".Spotlight.ucla.com. UCLA Marketing and Communications. Archived fromthe original on August 20, 2015. RetrievedAugust 17, 2015.
^"Alumni Achievement Award".University of California Santa Cruz Alumni. Regents of the University of California. Archived fromthe original on August 31, 2015. RetrievedAugust 17, 2015.
^"Miller Professors".Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science. University of California, Berkeley.Archived from the original on August 22, 2015. RetrievedAugust 29, 2015.
