Photo: NASA Astrobiology Institute / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)

R. Paul Butler

ポール・バトラー　/　ぽーる・ばとらー

American astronomer

January 1, 1960 (age 66)　・　San Diego, California, United States

California
astronomer

My Take

What gets me about Paul Butler is how unglamorous the work is relative to the stakes. He and his team found more than half of the planets known to orbit nearby stars, which is to say he has done as much as anyone alive to answer whether we are alone. Yet there is no celebrity gloss here, just a San Diego kid out of San Francisco State who learned to read the faint wobble of distant suns. The Henry Draper Medal confirms it, but the patience behind it is what I admire. He turns silence in the data into addresses for new worlds.

Overview

Robert Paul Butler (born April 1960) is an astronomer and staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., who searches for extrasolar planets. As of November 2020, he and his team had discovered over half of the planets found orbiting nearby stars.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): R. Paul Butler
Name (Japanese): ポール・バトラー
Reading: ぽーる・ばとらー
Born: January 1, 1960 (age 66)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Capricorn / Rat
Origin: San Diego, California, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: astronomer

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: San Francisco State University

Awards & achievements

2001 Henry Draper Medal
2002 Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

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