Thomas Barclay

Dr. Thomas Barclay is an Astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he is Acting Deputy Project Scientist of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission. He also works on developing new technologies and space mission concepts for NASA. He was formerly Director of the Kepler/K2 mission Guest Observer Office at NASA Ames where his work with the astronomical community led to thousands of astrophysical and planetary science discoveries including new planets, galaxies and supernovae. Dr. Barclay analyzes data from both ground and space-based exoplanet surveys to search for planets. Dr. Barclay grew up in Sheffield in Northern England and received his Ph.D. from the University College London in 2011 where he worked on ultra-compact white dwarf binary stars. He has participated in the discovery of over 800 exoplanets and is known for his discovery of Kepler-37b, a planet about the size of the Moon that is the smallest planet known outside of our Solar System.