His father was an Iraqi Jew who grew up in Basra and Baghdad and came to MIT in 1944, remaining in America since then.

His mother was Jamaican, and came to New York just before WWII to study dance (she was in Martha Graham's troupe for a little while).

It was partially based on observations by the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, of which Linsky's group was one of the first users.

In 1982 he joined the faculty of the Astronomy Department where he has been ever since, becoming a full professor in 1994 and formally retiring in 2015 (though he remains active).

His work there originally focused on high-energy observations of stars (with Stuart Bowyer) in preparation for the eventual launch of the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE).

As part of that work he invented the method of “lithium dating” that revised the ages of young star clusters upward by 50% or more.

[6] He led the campus to a strategic plan for equity and inclusion,[7] played a key role in a number of climate surveys (culminating in one for the whole University of California system[8]), and brought diversity considerations to a stronger role in hiring and search practices, advancement and retention practices, and programmatic review for the campus.