Background
Geoffrey Alan Landis was born on May 28, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan, United States, into the family of John Lloyd and Patricia (Sheridan) Landis. He lived in Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, and Illinois during his childhood.
Geoffrey Alan Landis was born on May 28, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan, United States, into the family of John Lloyd and Patricia (Sheridan) Landis. He lived in Virginia, Maryland, Philadelphia, and Illinois during his childhood.
Geoffrey holds undergraduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Philosophy in solid-state physics from Brown University.
After receiving his doctorate degree at Brown University, Landis worked at the NASA Glenn and the Ohio Aerospace Institute before accepting a permanent position at the NASA John Glenn Research Center, where he does research on Mars missions, solar energy, and technology development for future space missions. Currently he holds nine patents, and has authored or co-authored more than 300 published scientific papers in the fields of astronautics and photovoltaics. Much of Landis' technical work has been in the field of developing solar cells and arrays, both for terrestrial use and for spacecraft.
Landis has worked on a number of projects related to developing technology of human and robotic exploration of Mars and scientific analysis of the Martian surface, including studies of the performance of photovoltaic cells in the Mars environment, the effect of Martian dust on performance, and technologies for dust removal from the arrays. He has also done work on analyzing concepts for future robotic and human mission to Mars.
In 2005–2006, Geoffrey was named the Ronald E. McNair Visiting Professor of Astronautics at MIT. Landis has also been a faculty member of the International Space University; in 1998 he was on the faculty of the Department of Mining, Manufacturing, and Robotics in the Space Studies Program, and in 1999 he was on the faculty of the 12th Space Studies Program at the Suranaree University of Technology in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. and co-chair of the student project "Out of the Cradle." He was also a guest lecturer at the ISU 13th Space Studies Program in Valparaíso, Chile, and the 2015 Space Studies Program in Athens, Ohio.
As a writer, he worked as an instructor at the Clarion Writers Workshop at Michigan State University in 2001. He was a guest instructor at the Launch Pad workshop for 2012.
Landis has also published a number of poems, much of it involving science fiction or science themes. His poetry collection "Iron Angels" was published in 2009. Landis has also written non-fiction and popular science articles, encyclopedia articles and columns for a large range of publications, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Space Sciences, Asimov's Science Fiction, Spaceflight, and Science Fiction Age.
Geoffrey is married to science fiction writer Mary A. Turzillo and lives in Berea, Ohio.