R. Paul Butler

Paul Butler is an astronomer who searches for extrasolar planets. He has co-discovered two thirds of the approximately 150 extrasolar planets discovered to date.

He received a BA and an MS from San Francisco State University, completing a Master's thesis with Geoffrey Marcy, and then completed his doctoral studies at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1993. His graduate work focused on the design of the very sensitive spectrograph required to detect extrasolar planets by detecting variations in the radial velocity of their parent stars. Since 1999 he has been a staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Butler and collaborator Geoffrey Marcy shared the Henry Draper Medal in 2001. He was named Discover Magazine's "Space Scientist of the Year" in 2003.