Daniel Holz

Daniel Holz
Daniel Holz
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Princeton University (AB) University of Chicago (PhD)
Known for	Gravitational waves, General relativity, Astrophysics
Scientific career
Fields	Physics, Cosmology, Astrophysics
Institutions	University of Chicago

Daniel Holz is an American physicist and cosmologist specializing in general relativity, astrophysics, and cosmology. He is a professor at the University of Chicago, affiliated with the Departments of Physics, Astronomy & Astrophysics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

At the University of Chicago, Holz serves as the founding director of the Existential Risk Laboratory (XLab). ^[5] In addition to his academic work, Holz is Chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, ^[6] and in this role helps set the time of the Doomsday Clock.

Education and career

Holz earned his Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Princeton University and his Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from the University of Chicago. ^[7] He is a member of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration and played a significant role in two discoveries: the first detection of gravitational waves in 2016 ^[8] and the first multi-messenger detection of a binary neutron star in 2017. ^{[9] [10]}

Holz teaches a class called “Are We Doomed?” at the University of Chicago. ^{[11] [12]}

Research on black holes

Holz's research has shed light on black holes.. ^{[3] [9] [10] [13] [14]} As part of the LIGO collaboration, Holz contributed to the first observation of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime caused by the collision of two black holes. This discovery provided a new way to observe the universe and the hidden dynamics of black hole mergers. Holz is also known for contributions to gravitational-wave astronomy, as well as for developing standard sirens as a gravitational-wave probe of cosmology. ^{[9] [15] [16]}

Holz emphasizes the paradox of human curiosity and vulnerability: “We explore the most distant edges of the universe, probing the mysteries of black holes and the Big Bang, while simultaneously risking the destruction of our own planet.”. ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Awards

Holz has been recognized as a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has received awards recognizing his contributions, including:

• The 2012 National Science Foundation CAREER Award. ^[20]
• The 2015 Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. ^[21]
• The 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, as a member of the LIGO collaboration. ^[22]
• The 2016 Gruber Cosmology Prize, as a member of the LIGO collaboration. ^[23]

Selected publications

• Holz, Daniel E.; Wald, Robert M. (3 August 1998). "New method for determining cumulative gravitational lensing effects in inhomogeneous universes". Physical Review D. 58 (6): 063501. arXiv: astro-ph/9708036 . Bibcode:1998PhRvD..58f3501H. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.58.063501. ISSN   0556-2821.
• Holz, Daniel E.; Wheeler, John A. (10 October 2002). "Retro-MACHOs: π in the Sky?". The Astrophysical Journal. 578 (1): 330–334. arXiv: astro-ph/0209039 . Bibcode:2002ApJ...578..330H. doi:10.1086/342463. ISSN   0004-637X.
• Holz, Daniel E.; Linder, Eric V. (October 2005). "Safety in Numbers: Gravitational Lensing Degradation of the Luminosity Distance–Redshift Relation". The Astrophysical Journal. 631 (2): 678–688. arXiv: astro-ph/0412173 . Bibcode:2005ApJ...631..678H. doi:10.1086/432085. ISSN   0004-637X.
• Holz, Daniel E.; Hughes, Scott A. (10 August 2005). "Using Gravitational-Wave Standard Sirens". The Astrophysical Journal. 629 (1): 15–22. arXiv: astro-ph/0504616 . Bibcode:2005ApJ...629...15H. doi:10.1086/431341. ISSN   0004-637X.
• Abbott, B. P.; Holz, D. E.; et al. (11 February 2016). "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger". Physical Review Letters. 116 (6): 061102. arXiv: 1602.03837 . Bibcode:2016PhRvL.116f1102A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102. ISSN   0031-9007. PMID   26918975.
• Ezquiaga, Jose María; Holz, Daniel E. (3 August 2022). "Spectral Sirens: Cosmology from the Full Mass Distribution of Compact Binaries". Physical Review Letters. 129 (6): 061102. arXiv: 2202.08240 . Bibcode:2022PhRvL.129f1102E. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061102. ISSN   1079-7114.

References

1. "Daniel Holz – The University of Chicago". University of Chicago .
2. "Daniel Holz - Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics (KICP)". University of Chicago .
3. "A Voracious Black Hole at the Dawn of Time?". The New York Times . 21 February 2024.
4. "The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics | Daniel E. Holz". University of Chicago .
5. "XLab – Existential Risk Laboratory | University of Chicago". xrisk.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
6. "Daniel Holz". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists .
7. "BLACK HOLES, THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK AND OTHER WEIGHTY MATTERS (PART 2) *HYBRID* - THU, OCT 17, 2024". www.princetonclubofchicago.org.
8. "LIGO Announces Detection of Gravitational Waves from Colliding…". Kavli Foundation (United States) . 17 October 2017.
9. "Hearing the Thunder and Seeing the Lightning: A Gravitational Wave Detection of Colliding Neutron Stars - Dr. Daniel Holz (Public Lecture) | Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC)". kipac.stanford.edu.
10. "Daniel Holz - Department of Physics | The University of Chicago". University of Chicago .
11. Galchen, Rivka (3 June 2024). "Are We Doomed? Here's How to Think About It". The New Yorker .
12. "Are We Doomed? class syllabus 2024". Google Docs. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
13. "Black hole reverberations suggest the cosmic beasts are as 'bald' as cue balls". Science .
14. "Daniel Holz". Science Friday .
15. "Black hole collisions could help us measure how fast the universe is expanding | University of Chicago News". news.uchicago.edu. 15 August 2022.
16. Holz, Daniel E.; Hughes, Scott A.; Schutz, Bernard F. (1 December 2018). "Measuring cosmic distances with standard sirens". Physics Today. 71 (12): 34–40. doi:10.1063/PT.3.4090. ISSN   0031-9228.
17. Simon, Matt. "Humanity Is Doing Its Best Impression of a Black Hole". Wired .
18. Fang, Eric. "Members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Discuss Doomsday Clock in Panel". The Chicago Maroon .
19. "Doomsday Clock says we're the closest we've been to apocalypse. We need to move faster". USA Today .
20. "NSF Award Search: Award # 0449884 - CAREER: Beyond Gravitational Wave Detection". National Science Foundation .
21. "The Core: College Magazine of the University of Chicago". thecore.uchicago.edu.
22. "Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Rainer Weiss and the LIGO Contributors". breakthroughprize.org.
23. "2016 Gruber Cosmology Prize | Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 11 July 2025.