Adam Riess facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Adam Riess
|
|
|---|---|
Riess in 2011
|
|
| Born |
Adam Guy Riess
December 16, 1969 Washington, D.C., U.S.
|
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University |
| Known for | Accelerating universe / dark energy, Hubble constant |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Joy Schondorf (m. 1998) |
| Awards | Robert J. Trumpler Award (1999) Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (2002) Sackler Prize for Physics (2004) Shaw Prize in Astronomy (2006) Nobel Prize in Physics (2011) Albert Einstein Medal (2011) Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2015) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Type Ia Supernova Multicolor Light Curve Shapes (1996) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Kirshner, William H. Press |
Adam Guy Riess (born December 16, 1969) is an American astrophysicist. He is a professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Riess is famous for his work on supernovae. These are huge star explosions. He used them to study the universe. He shared the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. He won these awards with Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt. They found proof that the universe is expanding faster and faster. This idea is called the accelerating universe.
Contents
About Adam Riess
Adam Riess was born in Washington, D.C. on December 16, 1969. He grew up in Warren, New Jersey. His father, Michael Riess, owned a frozen-foods company. His mother, Doris Riess, was a psychologist. Adam Riess is from a Jewish family. He has two sisters, Gail Saltz and Holly Hagerman. In 1998, he married Nancy Joy Schondorf.
His School Days
Riess went to Watchung Hills Regional High School. He graduated in 1988. He also attended a special science program in 1987.
He then studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He graduated from MIT in 1992. He earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1996. For his PhD, he studied many Type Ia supernovae. He found a way to use these supernovae to measure distances in space. This helped scientists understand the universe better. His PhD work won the Robert J. Trumpler Award in 1999. This award is for important astronomy PhD projects.
His Career Path
After his PhD, Riess worked at the University of California, Berkeley. This was from 1996 to 1999. During this time, he published his first big paper. It was about the discovery of the accelerating universe.
In 1999, he joined the Space Telescope Science Institute. Later, in 2006, he also started working at Johns Hopkins University. In 2016, he became a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor. This title is given to top researchers and teachers.
Discovering the Accelerating Universe
Adam Riess led a research team called the High-z Supernova Search Team in 1998. He worked with Brian Schmidt. Their team found the first evidence that the universe is expanding faster. They studied Type Ia supernovae.
How They Made the Discovery
Scientists used to think the universe's expansion was slowing down. But Riess's team watched light from supernovae. These star explosions happened billions of years ago. They found that the light was shifting in a way that showed the supernovae were moving away faster. This meant the universe was speeding up, not slowing down.
Another team, the Supernova Cosmology Project, found the same thing. This team was led by Saul Perlmutter. When both teams found the same surprising result, it made the idea of an accelerating universe widely accepted.
What This Means for Science
This discovery changed how we think about the universe. It led to new research about something called dark energy. Scientists believe dark energy is causing the universe to speed up.
The discovery of the accelerating universe was named the "Breakthrough of the Year" in 1998 by Science magazine. For this amazing work, Riess, Schmidt, and Perlmutter shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Later Research
From 2002 to 2007, Riess led another team. They used the Hubble Space Telescope. They found many more supernovae. This helped them show that the universe first slowed down, then started speeding up.
Riess also works on measuring the Hubble constant. This constant tells us how fast the universe is expanding today. His team's measurements are very precise. They have found a small difference between their measurements and other predictions. This difference is known as the "Hubble tension."
Awards and Honors
Adam Riess has received many awards for his important work:
- 1999: Robert J. Trumpler Award
- 2001: Bok Prize from Harvard University
- 2003: Helen B. Warner Prize
- 2004: Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Physics
- 2006: Shared the $1 million Shaw Prize in Astronomy with Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt.
- 2007: Shared the Gruber Cosmology Prize with the High-Z Team and the Supernova Cosmology Project.
- 2008: MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
- 2009: Elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
- 2011: Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Perlmutter and Schmidt.
- 2012: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
- 2015: Shared the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with Brian P. Schmidt and the High-Z Supernova Search Team.
- 2020: Became a fellow of the American Astronomical Society.
Media Appearances
In 2011, Adam Riess was a guest on the NPR radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.
See Also
In Spanish: Adam Riess para niños
- Cosmological constant
- Dark energy
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
