Who is Dr. Corky Marlinson from Deception Point and what is their importance?

Corky is an astrophysicist and one of the four civilian scientists that President Herney sends to the Arctic to verify the authenticity of the meteorite. Corky is very committed to the meteorite data and often disagrees with Michael and Rachel's alternate explanations for how the characteristics of the sample he has could make it a Earth terrestrial rock. Corky is adamant that the sample is from a meteorite.