Lissauer received a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982.

He discovered, together with Mark R. Showalter, the inner satellites of Uranus: Cupid and Mab.

With Showalter, I. de Pater and R. S. French, he also discovered Hippocamp, a small satellite of Neptune.

In 2014, he was given the H. Julian Allen Award for his paper "Models of Jupiter's growth incorporating thermal and hydrodynamic constraints".

[1] His previous awards include the Harold C. Urey Prize from Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Chambliss Writing Prize from the AAS and a NASA Honor Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement.