Wikipedia

Debra Fischer

This article is about the American astronomer and academic. For the United States senator, see Deb Fischer.
Debra Fischer
Debra Fischer
Fischer in 2004
Born1953 (age 72–73)
Alma materUniversity of Iowa, San Francisco State University, University of California at Santa Cruz
Known forAstronomy, Exoplanetology
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsYale University

Debra Ann Fischer (born 1953) is an American astronomer and professor emerita at Yale University.[1] She is known for her work in the discovery and characterization of exoplanets using the radial velocity method.[2]

Fischer has been involved in the detection of hundreds of exoplanets and has contributed to the development of high-precision spectrographs used in exoplanet research.[3]

Early life and education

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Fischer received her degree in nursing from the University of Iowa in 1975, a masters of science in physics from San Francisco State University in 1992, and her PhD in astrophysics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1998.[2]

Career and research

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Following her PhD, Fischer worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a faculty member at San Francisco State University from 2003 to 2008 before joining Yale University in 2009. She was a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study from 2009 – 2010.[4]

At Yale, Fischer held a primary appointment in Astronomy, and secondary appointments in Earth & Planetary Sciences, and Statistics & Data Science. Fischer served as Dean of Academic Affairs from 2018 to 2021. [5] Fischer served as Division Director of Astronomy at the National Science Foundation from 2021 - 2023.[2]

Fischer began exoplanet research in 1997 using Doppler spectroscopy and was part of the team that discovered the first known multi-planet system around the star Upsilon Andromedae in 1999.[6]

She quantified a correlation between the chemical composition of host stars and the formation of orbiting gas giant planets.[7][8]

She co-led the N2K Consortium with Gregory Laughlin, detecting dozens of exoplanets around metal-rich stars at Keck Observatory, the Subaru telescope and the Magellan Telescopes.[9]

Fischer was the principal investigator for the CHIRON spectrograph[10] at CTIO, VUES [11] at Vilnius University, and EXPRES [12] at the Lowell Discovery Telescope. These instruments aim to improve measurement precision in radial velocity studies to enable the detection of small amplitude radial velocity signals from rocky planets.

In 2010 with the Oxford Zooniverse team, Fischer co‑founded Planet Hunters, a citizen science project for exoplanet discovery. In 2019, she co-founded Astronomers for Planet Earth, an international initiative aimed at mobilizing the astronomy community in addressing climate change. As Division Director of Astronomy at NSF, she emphasized sustainability in scientific operations and the importance of preparing energy budgets for research facilities.[13]

Honors and awards

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Selected publications

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  • Borucki, William J.; Koch, David; Basri, Gibor; Batalha, Natalie; Brown, Timothy; Caldwell, Douglas; Caldwell, John; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Cochran, William D.; DeVore, Edna; Dunham, Edward W.; Dupree, Andrea K.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Geary, John C.; Gilliland, Ronald (2010-02-19). "Kepler Planet-Detection Mission: Introduction and First Results". Science. 327 (5968): 977–980. Bibcode:2010Sci...327..977B. doi:10.1126/science.1185402. PMID 20056856.
  • Fischer, Debra A.; Valenti, Jeff (2005). "The Planet-Metallicity Correlation". The Astrophysical Journal. 622 (2): 1102–1117. Bibcode:2005ApJ...622.1102F. doi:10.1086/428383. ISSN 0004-637X.
  • Valenti, Jeff A.; Fischer, Debra A. (2005). "Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS). I. 1040 F, G, and K Dwarfs from Keck, Lick, and AAT Planet Search Programs". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 159 (1): 141–166. Bibcode:2005ApJS..159..141V. doi:10.1086/430500. ISSN 0067-0049.
  • Howard, Andrew W.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Bryson, Stephen T.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Rowe, Jason F.; Batalha, Natalie M.; Borucki, William J.; Koch, David G.; Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Van Cleve, Jeffrey; Cochran, William D.; Latham, David W.; Lissauer, Jack J.; Torres, Guillermo (2012). "Planet Occurrence within 0.25 AU of Solar-type Stars from Kepler". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 201 (2): 15. arXiv:1103.2541. Bibcode:2012ApJS..201...15H. doi:10.1088/0067-0049/201/2/15. ISSN 0067-0049.
  • Butler, R. P.; Wright, J. T.; Marcy, G. W.; Fischer, D. A.; Vogt, S. S.; Tinney, C. G.; Jones, H. R. A.; Carter, B. D.; Johnson, J. A.; McCarthy, C.; Penny, A. J. (2006-07-20). "Catalog of Nearby Exoplanets". The Astrophysical Journal. 646 (1): 505–522. arXiv:astro-ph/0607493. Bibcode:2006ApJ...646..505B. doi:10.1086/504701. ISSN 0004-637X.
  • Cumming, Andrew; Butler, R. Paul; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Vogt, Steven S.; Wright, Jason T.; Fischer, Debra A. (2008). "The Keck Planet Search: Detectability and the Minimum Mass and Orbital Period Distribution of Extrasolar Planets". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 120 (867): 531–554. arXiv:0803.3357. Bibcode:2008PASP..120..531C. doi:10.1086/588487. ISSN 0004-6280.
  • Isaacson, Howard; Fischer, Debra (2010-11-22). "Chromospheric Activity and Jitter Measurements for 2630 Stars on the California Planet Search". The Astrophysical Journal. 725 (1): 875–885. arXiv:1009.2301. Bibcode:2010ApJ...725..875I. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/725/1/875. ISSN 0004-637X.
  • Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A. (2015-01-01). "REVEALING A UNIVERSAL PLANET–METALLICITY CORRELATION FOR PLANETS OF DIFFERENT SIZES AROUND SOLAR-TYPE STARS". The Astronomical Journal. 149 (1): 14. arXiv:1310.7830. Bibcode:2015AJ....149...14W. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/1/14. ISSN 0004-6256.
  • Brewer, John M.; Fischer, Debra A.; Valenti, Jeff A.; Piskunov, Nikolai (2016-08-01). "Spectral Properties of Cool Stars: Extended Abundance Analysis of 1,617 Planet-Search Stars". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 225 (2): 32. arXiv:1606.07929. Bibcode:2016ApJS..225...32B. doi:10.3847/0067-0049/225/2/32. ISSN 0067-0049.

References

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  1. ^ "Debra Fischer | Department of Astronomy". astronomy.yale.edu. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  2. ^ a b c Avitia, Claudia (2022-03-03). "Debra Fischer On Scientific Culture and Life On Other Planets". 1400 Degrees. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  3. ^ "Interview with Dr. Debra Fischer, Planet-Hunter". www.womanastronomer.com. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  4. ^ "Debra Ann Fischer2009–2010 Physical Sciences Edward, Frances, and Shirley B. Daniels Fellow Yale University". Radcliffe harvard.
  5. ^ Valenti, Jeff A.; Fischer, Debra A. (2005). "Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS). I. 1040 F, G, and K Dwarfs from Keck, Lick, and AAT Planet Search Programs". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 159 (1): 141. Bibcode:2005ApJS..159..141V. doi:10.1086/430500.
  6. ^ "Evidence for Multiple Companions to Upsilon Andromedae" https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/308035/pdf
  7. ^ Fischer, Debra A.; Valenti, Jeff (2005). "The Planet-Metallicity Correlation". The Astrophysical Journal. 622 (2): 1102–1117. Bibcode:2005ApJ...622.1102F. doi:10.1086/428383. ISSN 0004-637X.
  8. ^ Valenti, Jeff A.; Fischer, Debra A. (July 2005). "Spectroscopic Properties of Cool Stars (SPOCS). I. 1040 F, G, and K Dwarfs from Keck, Lick, and AAT Planet Search Programs". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 159 (1): 141–166. Bibcode:2005ApJS..159..141V. doi:10.1086/430500.
  9. ^ Ment, Kristo; Fischer, Debra A.; Bakos, Gaspar; Howard, Andrew W.; Isaacson, Howard (1 November 2018). "Radial Velocities from the N2K Project: Six New Cold Gas Giant Planets Orbiting HD 55696, HD 98736, HD 148164, HD 203473, and HD 211810". The Astronomical Journal. 156 (5): 213. arXiv:1809.01228. Bibcode:2018AJ....156..213M. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aae1f5.
  10. ^ Schwab, C.; Spronck, J. F. P.; Tokovinin, A.; Fischer, D. A.; Marcy, G. W. (2011). "CHIRON – A new high resolution spectrometer for CTIO". EPJ Web of Conferences. 16: 07006. Bibcode:2011EPJWC..1607006S. doi:10.1051/epjconf/20111607006. ISSN 2100-014X.
  11. ^ Jurgenson, Colby; Fischer, Debra; McCracken, Tyler; Sawyer, David; Giguere, Matt; Szymkowiak, Andrew; Santoro, Fernando; Muller, Gary (2016). "Design and Construction of VUES: The Vilnius University Echelle Spectrograph". Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation. 05 (2): 1650003–1650239. arXiv:1601.06024. Bibcode:2016JAI.....550003J. doi:10.1142/S2251171716500033. ISSN 2251-1717.
  12. ^ Jurgenson, C.; Fischer, D.; McCracken, T.; Sawyer, D.; Szymkowiak, A.; Davis, A.; Muller, G.; Santoro, F. (2016). Evans, Christopher J.; Simard, Luc; Takami, Hideki (eds.). "EXPRES: a next generation RV spectrograph in the search for earth-like worlds". Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI. 9908: 99086T. arXiv:1606.04413. Bibcode:2016SPIE.9908E..6TJ. doi:10.1117/12.2233002. ISSN 0277-786X.
  13. ^ https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/attachments/305471/public/9_NSF_Sustainability_Debra_Fischer.pdf Whose job is it to combat Climate Change?
  14. ^ aldoleopoldnaturecenter (2016-02-04). "Debra Fischer". Featured Scientists. Retrieved 2025-08-27.
  15. ^ a b "Debra Ann Fischer". 6 June 2024.
  16. ^ "Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering - Member public profile". casemembers.wildapricot.org. Retrieved 2025-08-27.
  17. ^ San Francisco State University (2016-12-14). Debra Fischer - 2016 Hall of Fame Inductee. Retrieved 2024-11-17 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  19. ^ "2021 Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
  20. ^ "2021 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Debra Ann Fischer – NAS". Nas Online. Retrieved 2025-08-27.
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