David Levy Biography

David Levy, born in Montreal on May 22, 1948 is most well-known for his studies regarding comets, namely Shoemaker-Levy 9. Levy was interested in Astronomy from a young age, but majored in English when he attended Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Despite his English studies, he was able to discover twenty comets just from his interest in astronomy and by keeping his eyes on the sky. He met with the Shoemakers when they were tracking one of the comets he had discovered. Together, they worked at the Palomar Observatory where the three watched the comet they discovered named Shoemaker-Levy 9. He is considered the most acclaimed amateur astronomer ever to walk this Earth as a mortal. He is the author of many books and is known for popularizing astronomy to the layman. Levy is very well known and appears on television talk shows and leads many astronomy societies. Currently he lives in Vail Arizona with his wife where the two run an observatory and to facilitate astronomy education.