Robert Kirshner

Last updated
Robert P. Kirshner
RobertKirshnerIMG 2728x.jpg
Born (1949-08-15) August 15, 1949 (age 75)
Alma mater Harvard College (A.B.),
California Institute of Technology (Ph.D.)
Known for Type Ia Supernova Studies, Large Scale Structure, supernova remnants
AwardsCaltech Distinguished Alumni Award
Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (2011)
James Craig Watson Medal (2014)
Wolf Prize in Physics (2015)
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
Institutions Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Harvard University
University of Michigan

Robert P. Kirshner (born August 15, 1949) is an American astronomer, Chief Program Officer for Science for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Clownes Research Professor of Science at Harvard University. [1] [2] Kirshner has worked in several areas of astronomy including the physics of supernovae, supernova remnants, the large-scale structure of the cosmos, and the use of supernovae to measure the expansion of the universe.

Contents

Career

Kirshner received his A.B. magna cum laude in Astronomy from Harvard College in 1970, where he also won a Bowdoin Prize for Useful and Polite Literature. He earned his Ph.D., also in Astronomy, from Caltech in 1975.

He then worked as a postdoc at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he rose to become Professor and Chairman of the Astronomy Department and helped to build the 2.4 meter Hiltner Telescope. Whilst at Michigan, he received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship and won the Henry Russel Award.

In 1985, he moved to the Harvard Astronomy Department as Professor of Astronomy (1985–2016), where he served as Chairman of the Department from 1990–1997 and as the head of the Optical and Infrared Division of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. from 1997–2003. He was appointed Clownes Professor of Science in 2001, Master of Quincy House, one of Harvard’s undergraduate residences, from 2001–2007 and Harvard College Professor (2004–2009). He helped Harvard join the Magellan Observatory in Chile and the Giant Magellan Telescope project.

In July, 2015 he was appointed Chief Program Officer for Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, where he is leading the team responsible for distributing more than $100 million per year for research and technology that enables fundamental scientific discoveries. [3] At the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Kirshner is an observer on the Thirty Meter International Observatory board of directors.

Achievements

In 1981, along with Augustus Oemler, Jr., Paul Schechter, and Stephen Shectman, Kirshner discovered the Boötes Void in a survey of galaxy redshifts. [4] He led work on SN 1987A, the brightest supernova since Kepler's in 1604, using the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite in 1987 and the Hubble Space Telescope after its launch in 1990. In the 1990s, together with Oemler, Schechter, Shectman and others he participated in the Las Campanas Redshift Survey, a pioneering 35,000 galaxy survey using fiber optics and plug plates. Kirshner is a co-author of 392 refereed articles in major astronomical journals that deal principally with supernova explosions and the application of supernovae to cosmology. His work has been cited over 57,000 times, and his h-index is 108. [5]

Kirshner was a member of the High-Z Supernova Search Team that used observations of distant supernovae to discover the accelerating universe. This universal acceleration implies the existence of dark energy and was named the breakthrough of 1998 by Science magazine. [6] For this work, he also shared in the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize. Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, both of whom were among Kirshner's nineteen Ph.D students, [7] shared in the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the same discovery. [8] His account of this discovery is described in The Extravagant Universe : Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Cosmos (2002; ISBN   978-0-691-05862-7) [9] which has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Czech. He has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1998, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1992 and the American Philosophical Society since 2005. He was the President of the American Astronomical Society from 2004–2006.

Recognition

In 2004, he received the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award. [10] In 2010, he received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Chicago. In 2011, he won the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics from the American Institute of Physics. [11] In 2012, he won a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2014, he won the James Craig Watson Medal for service to astronomy from the National Academy of Sciences [12] and shared in the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with the High-Z Team. In 2015, he shared the Wolf Prize in Physics with B.J. Bjorken. [13] In 2019, he received an honorary Doctor of Science from Ohio University. [14] He is a popular writer [15] [16] and speaker [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] both in the United States and internationally, [22] [23] and is represented by Jodi Soloman Speakers. [24] He has been frequently interviewed by both mainstream journalists [25] [26] and the science press and is often quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Nature, [27] and Science magazine. He has written for the general public in National Geographic, Sky & Telescope, Natural History, and Scientific American.

Kirshner's service to science includes board memberships for the Gemini International Telescope, the AUI Board for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the Associated Universities for Research in Astronomy, the National Research Council Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, the NASA Advisory Committee Science Subcommittee, and the Math and Physical Sciences Advisory Committee for the National Science Foundation. Kirshner was a panelist for the 2000 and 2010 Decadal Reviews of Astronomy. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society; a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and an Inaugural Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.

Awards

Personal life

In 1999, Kirshner married the novelist and filmmaker Jayne Loader. [29] From 2001–2007, they were the Masters of Quincy House, one of Harvard's 12 undergraduate houses. [30]

He is the father of the television writer/producer, Rebecca Rand Kirshner, and Matthew Kirshner, the CFO/GM of Format Entertainment in Los Angeles.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Faber</span> American astrophysicist

Sandra Moore Faber is an American astrophysicist known for her research on the evolution of galaxies. She is the University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works at the Lick Observatory. She has made discoveries linking the brightness of galaxies to the speed of stars within them and was the co-discoverer of the Faber–Jackson relation. Faber was also instrumental in designing the Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Astronomical Society</span> Society of professional astronomers based in Washington, DC

The American Astronomical Society is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the advancement of astronomy and closely related branches of science, while the secondary purpose includes enhancing astronomy education and providing a political voice for its members through lobbying and grassroots activities. Its current mission is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe as a diverse and inclusive astronomical community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saul Perlmutter</span> American astrophysicist and Nobel laureate (born 1959)

Saul Perlmutter is a U.S. astrophysicist, a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he holds the Franklin W. and Karen Weber Dabby Chair, and head of the International Supernova Cosmology Project at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is a member of both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Perlmutter shared the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, and the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with Brian P. Schmidt and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Since 2021, he has been a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

The Supernova Cosmology Project is one of two research teams that determined the likelihood of an accelerating universe and therefore a positive cosmological constant, using data from the redshift of Type Ia supernovae. The project is headed by Saul Perlmutter at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with members from Australia, Chile, France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Filippenko</span> American astrophysicist

Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1979 and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1984, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow. He was a postdoctoral Miller Fellow at Berkeley from 1984 to 1986 and was appointed to Berkeley's faculty in 1986. In 1996 and 2005, he was a Miller Research Professor, and he is currently a Senior Miller Fellow. His research focuses on supernovae and active galaxies at optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared wavelengths, as well as on black holes, gamma-ray bursts, and the expansion of the Universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-Z Supernova Search Team</span> International cosmology research group (1994–2002)

The High-Z Supernova Search Team was an international cosmology collaboration which used Type Ia supernovae to chart the expansion of the universe. The team was formed in 1994 by Brian P. Schmidt, then a post-doctoral research associate at Harvard University, and Nicholas B. Suntzeff, a staff astronomer at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The original team submitted a proposal on September 29, 1994 called A Pilot Project to Search for Distant Type Ia Supernova to the CTIO. The team on the first observing proposal comprised: Nicholas Suntzeff (PI); Brian Schmidt (Co-I); R. Chris Smith, Robert Schommer, Mark M. Phillips, Mario Hamuy, Roberto Aviles, Jose Maza, Adam Riess, Robert Kirshner, Jason Spiromilio, and Bruno Leibundgut. The project was awarded four nights of telescope time on the CTIO Víctor M. Blanco Telescope on the nights of February 25, 1995, and March 6, 24, and 29, 1995. The pilot project led to the discovery of supernova SN1995Y. In 1995, the HZT elected Brian P. Schmidt of the Mount Stromlo Observatory which is part of the Australian National University to manage the team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Riess</span> American astrophysicist (born 1969)

Adam Guy Riess is an American astrophysicist and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute. He is known for his research in using supernovae as cosmological probes. Riess shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Schmidt</span> American-born Australian astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate

Brian Paul Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor and astrophysicist at the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU) from January 2016 to January 2024. He is known for his research in using supernovae as cosmological probes. He previously held a Federation Fellowship and a Laureate Fellowship from the Australian Research Council, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2012. Schmidt shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas B. Suntzeff</span> American astronomer and cosmologist

Nicholas B. Suntzeff is an American astronomer and cosmologist. He is a university distinguished professor and holds the Mitchell/Heep/Munnerlyn Chair of Observational Astronomy in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Texas A&M University where he is director of the Astronomy Program. He is an observational astronomer specializing in cosmology, supernovae, stellar populations, and astronomical instrumentation. With Brian Schmidt he founded the High-z Supernova Search Team, which was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 to Schmidt and Adam Riess.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astronomy in Chile</span>

In 2011, Chile was home to 42% of the world's astronomical infrastructure, consisting principally of telescopes. In 2015, it was estimated that Chile would contain more than 50% of the global astronomical infrastructure by 2030. In the Atacama desert region of northern Chile, the skies are exceptionally clear and dry for more than 300 days of the year. These conditions have attracted the world's scientific community to develop highly ambitious astronomical projects in the Atacama desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Stubbs</span> American experimental physicist (b. 1958)

Christopher Stubbs is an experimental physicist on the faculty at Harvard University in both the Department of Physics and the Department of Astronomy. He is the Dean of Science at Harvard University and a former chair of Harvard's Department of Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puckett Observatory</span> Private observatory in Georgia, US

Puckett Observatory is a private astronomical observatory located in the state of Georgia. It is owned and operated by Tim Puckett. Its primary observation goals are the study of comets and the discovery of supernovae. To facilitate the latter goal it sponsors the Puckett Observatory World Supernova Search whose astronomers have discovered 369 supernovae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calán/Tololo Survey</span>

The Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey was a supernova survey that ran from 1989 to 1995 at the University of Chile and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory to measure a Hubble diagram out to redshifts of 0.1. It was founded by Mario Hamuy, José Maza Sancho, Mark M. Phillips, and Nicholas B. Suntzeff in 1989 out of discussions at the UC Santa Cruz meeting on supernovae on how to improve the Hubble diagram using Type Ia supernovae. It was also motivated by the suggestion of Allan Sandage to restart a supernova survey after the Sandage and Tammann survey failed due to poor quality photographic plates in 1986. The Survey built on the original supernova survey of Maza done at the f/3 Maksutov Camera at the Cerro Roble Observatory of the University of Chile between 1979 and 1984. The Survey used the CTIO Curtis Schmidt telescope with IIa-O photographic plates, each plate covering a field of 25 sq-deg on the sky. The plates were developed and sent to Santiago Chile the next morning and searched for supernovae at the Department of Astronomy at the University of Chile. Any supernova candidates were then observed the next night using the 0.9m telescope at CTIO with a CCD camera. This was one of the first studies done in astronomy where the telescope time was scheduled to observe objects not yet discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente</span> Spanish astronomer (born 1964)

Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente is an astrophysicist working as a professor at the University of Barcelona. Her work has included research on type Ia supernovae. In 2004, she led the team that searched for the companion star to the white dwarf that became supernova SN 1572, observed by Tycho Brahe, among others. Ruiz-Lapuente's research on supernovae contributed to the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William H. Press</span> American scientist (born 1948)

William Henry Press is an astrophysicist, theoretical physicist, computer scientist, and computational biologist. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1989, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "in recognition of important theoretical contributions to relativistic astrophysics and to cosmology" Other honors include the 1981 Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy. Press has been a member of the JASON defense advisory group since 1977 and is a past chair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alicia M. Soderberg</span> American astronomer

Alicia Margarita Soderberg is an American astrophysicist whose research focused on supernovae. She was an assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warrick Couch</span> Australian astronomer

Warrick John Couch is an Australian professional astronomer. He is currently a professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He was previously the Director of Australia's largest optical observatory, the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). He was also the president of the Australian Institute of Physics (2015–2017), and a non-executive director on the Board of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization. He was a founding non-executive director of Astronomy Australia Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Garnavich</span>

Peter M. Garnavich is a faculty member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Notre Dame. His primary research area is the study of supernovae and their diversity. He has also studied gamma ray bursts and cataclysmic variable stars. Garnavich is a member of a supernova search team that contributed to the discovery of dark energy in 1998. At Notre Dame, Garnavich has developed and participated in collaborations using the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope. He was named a fellow of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in 2024.

John Craig Wheeler is an American astronomer. He is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his theoretical work on supernovae. He is a past president of the American Astronomical Society, a Fellow of that society, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Maryam Modjaz is a German-American astrophysicist who is a professor and Director of Equity and Inclusion at the New York University. Her research considers the death of massive stars. She was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship in 2018, which she spent at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

References

  1. ↑ "Robert P. Kirshner". Harvard.
  2. ↑ "Robert P. Kirshner". Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
  3. ↑ "2015 Wolf Prize Winner Joins Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation". www.moore.org. Retrieved 2015-11-18.
  4. ↑ Kirshner, R. P.; Oemler, A. J.; Schechter, P. L.; Shectman, S. A. (1981). "A million cubic megaparsec void in Bootes". The Astrophysical Journal . 248: L57-60. Bibcode:1981ApJ...248L..57K. doi:10.1086/183623.
  5. ↑ "arXiv.org Search". arxiv.org. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  6. ↑ James Glanz (18 December 1998). "Breakthrough of the Year: Astronomy: Cosmic Motion Revealed". Science . 282 (5397): 2156–2157. Bibcode:1998Sci...282.2156G. doi:10.1126/science.282.5397.2156a. S2CID   117807831 . Retrieved 2008-07-17.
  7. ↑ "The Mathematics Genealogy Project – Robert Kirshner". genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  8. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (4 October 2011). "Studies of Universe's Expansion Win Physics Nobel". New York Times.
  9. ↑ Riordan, Michael (2003-04-13). "Department of Dark Energy". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  10. ↑ "Distinguished Alumni Named". California Institute of Technology. 21 April 2004. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  11. ↑ "Robert Kirshner Awarded the 2011 Heineman Prize". Center for Astrophysics. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  12. ↑ "Former AAS President Bob Kirshner Awarded Watson Medal | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  13. ↑ "Robert Kirshner receives Wolf Prize". Harvard Gazette. 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  14. ↑ "Visit behind the scenes with Astronomer Dr. Robert Kirshner - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  15. ↑ Kirshner, Robert P. (2011-10-06). "The Universe, Dark Energy and Us". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  16. ↑ "Astronomy Looks Ahead: Paperwork and Derring-Do". Times Topics Blog. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  17. ↑ "The Accelerating Universe - Robert P. Kirshner". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
  18. ↑ "Robert Kirshner, Harvard University, "The Accelerating Universe: Einstein's Blunder Undone"". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.
  19. ↑ "Hubble Space Telescope: Exploding Stars and the Accelerating Universe | National Air and Space Museum". airandspace.si.edu. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  20. ↑ "The Undiscovery of Cosmic Deceleration - Robert P. Kirshner - Radcliffe Institute". Archived from the original on 2021-12-22 – via YouTube.
  21. ↑ "Harvard Club of Miami". www.harvardmiami.org. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  22. ↑ "Robert P. Kirshner". Falling Walls. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  23. ↑ "Robert Kirshner Harvard Exploding Stars and Accelerating Universe". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2020-08-12– via YouTube.
  24. ↑ "Robert Kirshner - Astronomer". Jodi Solomon Speakers. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  25. ↑ "Big Think Interview With Robert Kirshner - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  26. ↑ Robert Kirshner - Charlie Rose , retrieved 2020-08-12
  27. ↑ "Hubble moments: Robert Kirshner". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2020-08-13– via YouTube.
  28. ↑ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  29. ↑ "WEDDINGS; Jayne Loader, Robert Kirshner". The New York Times. 1999-12-12. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  30. ↑ "Kirshner Chosen As Quincy Master | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.