Brian Schmidt
| Brian P. Schmidt | |
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| Born | February 24, 1967 Missoula, Montana, United States |
| Alma mater | University of Arizona (1989), Harvard University (1993) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Kirshner |
| Notable awards | Shaw Prize in Astronomy (2006) Nobel Prize in Physics (2011) |
| Spouse | Jennifer M. Gordon |
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Notes
"FACTBOX-Nobel physics prize winners", Reuters News, 4 October 2011. |
Brian P. Schmidt (born February 24, 1967) is a Distinguished Professor, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow and astrophysicist at the Australian National University Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is widely known for his research in using supernovae as Cosmological Probes. He currently holds an Australia Research Council Federation Fellowship. 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.
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[edit] Early life and education
Schmidt, an only child, was born on February 24, 1967, in the Montana mountains where his father Dana C. Schmidt was a fisheries biologist. When he was 13, his family relocated to Anchorage, Alaska.[1][2]
Schmidt attended Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska, and graduated in 1985. He has said that he wanted to be a meteorologist "since I was about five-years-old" but "... I did some work at the US National Weather Service up in Anchorage and didn't enjoy it very much. It was less scientific, not as exciting as I thought it would be—there was a lot of routine. But I guess I was just a little naive about what being a meteorologist meant." His decision to study astronomy, which he had seen as "a minor pastime", was made just before he enrolled at university.[3] He earned his BS (Physics) and BS (Astronomy) from the University of Arizona in 1989.[4] He received his MA (1992) and then PhD from Harvard University in 1993.[5] Schmidt's PhD thesis was supervised by Robert Kirshner and used Type II Supernovae to measure the Hubble Constant.
At Harvard, he met his future wife, the Australian (Jenny) Jennifer M. Gordon who was a PhD student in economics. In 1994, he moved to Australia.[1][4]
[edit] Work
Schmidt was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (1993–1994) before moving on to Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1995.
Schmidt jointly led the study with Adam Riess in 1998 for the High-z Supernova Search Team which first reported evidence that the Universe's expansion rate is now accelerating through monitoring of Type 1a Supernova.[6] The team's observations were contrary to the current theory that the expansion of the universe was slowing down; on the contrary, by monitoring the color shifts in the light from the supernovae from Earth, they discovered that these billion-year old novae were still accelerating.[7] This result was also found nearly simultaneously by the Supernova Cosmology Project, led by Saul Perlmutter.[7] The corroborating evidence between the two competing studies led to the acceptance of the accelerating universe theory and initiated new research to understand the nature of the universe, such as the existence of dark matter.[7] The discovery of the accelerating universe was named 'Breakthrough of the Year' by Science Magazine in 1998, and Schmidt was jointly awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Reiss and Perlmutter for their groundbreaking work.[7]
Schmidt is currently leading the SkyMapper telescope Project and the associated Southern Sky Survey.
[edit] Awards
Schmidt has received the Australian Government's Malcolm McIntosh Prize in 2000, Harvard University's Bok Prize in 2000, the Australian Academy of Science's Pawsey Medal Medal in 2001, and the Vainu Bappu Medal of the Astronomical Society of India in 2002. He was the Marc Aaronson Memorial Lecturer in 2005, and, in 2006, he shared the Shaw Prize in Astronomy with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter.[8][9]
Schmidt and the other members of the High-Z Team (the set defined by the co-authors of Riess et al. 1998) shared the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize, a $500,000 award, with Saul Perlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Supernova Cosmology Project (the set defined by the co-authors of Perlmutter et al. 1999) for their discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Schmidt, along with Riess and Perlmutter, jointly won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for their observations which led to the discovery of the accelerating Universe.[8]
[edit] Hobbies
Schmidt makes wine and enjoys cooking.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Restless experimenter The Canberra Times, 6 April 2011, p 8.
- ^ "FACTBOX-Nobel physics prize winners", Reuters News, 4 October 2011.
- ^ "Star turn in global success", The Canberra Times, 1 July 2006, p B02.
- ^ a b "SCHMIDT, Brian" in Who's Who Live (Australia), Crown Content Pty Ltd accessed 4 October 2011.
- ^ The Universe from Beginning to End, Pollock Memorial Lecture, April 2009, The University of Sydney accessed 5 October 2011.
- ^ Cosmology ABC Catalyst segment on Cosmology, with Brian Schmidt, Ray Norris, & Lawrence Kraus
- ^ a b c d Palmer, Jason (2011-10-04). "Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
- ^ a b "Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find". BBC News. October 4, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371.
- ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-04/australian-astrophysicist-wins-nobel-prize/3209216%7Ctitle= Australian Astrophysicist Wins Nobel Prize
[edit] Sources
[edit] External links
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim |
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess 2011 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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