He started to study history at the University of Bristol, but soon changed to physics because he could then get financial help from the government (World War II was on, so science was very important to the government). He went to London and got a doctorate from University College London in 1951. He met the astronomer Margaret Peachey. He became very interested in astronomy and he married her in 1948. From then on they always worked together in several places. They worked at Harvard, the University of Chicago and Cambridge University. Then Margaret got work at the California Institute of Technology, while Geoffrey worked at the Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory. They both got jobs at the University of California, San Diego, in 1962.