Adam Riess

Adam Riess
Holger Motzkau · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	Adam Riess
Birth date	1969
Birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Fields	Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology
Workplaces	Space Telescope Science Institute; Johns Hopkins University; Harvard University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvard University; Hopkins School
Known for	Observational cosmology; discovery of accelerating universe; Type Ia supernovae studies
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physics; Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics; Shaw Prize; Gruber Cosmology Prize

Adam Riess

Adam Riess is an American astrophysicist and observational cosmologist known for co-leading studies that provided evidence for the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant Type Ia supernovae. He is associated with institutions including the Space Telescope Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has received major honors such as the Nobel Prize in Physics and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. His work has influenced research areas spanning supernova cosmology, dark energy, the Hubble constant, and observational programs using ground- and space-based telescopes.

Early life and education

Riess was born in Philadelphia and attended Hopkins School before earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, where he studied under mentors connected to programs at the Space Telescope Science Institute and collaborations involving the Hubble Space Telescope. During his doctoral and postdoctoral training he became involved with teams working on projects tied to the Keck Observatory, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the European Southern Observatory, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, linking his early formation to communities around the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Two Micron All Sky Survey, and the Palomar Transient Factory.

Research and career

Riess co-led observational campaigns with collaborators from the High-Z Supernova Search Team and the Supernova Cosmology Project, combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck Observatory, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and ground-based facilities to calibrate Type Ia supernova luminosities with Cepheid variables measured in galaxies observed by the Wide Field Camera and Advanced Camera for Surveys. His analyses engaged methods used by teams associated with the Cosmic Microwave Background programs such as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the Planck mission, and intersect with theoretical frameworks from researchers at Princeton University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, and Cambridge University. Riess has worked on constraints for dark energy parametrizations related to the cosmological constant introduced in models rooted in general relativity developed by Albert Einstein, and his efforts link to broader efforts by collaborations at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CERN, Fermilab, and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics to interpret observational accelerations in light of particle physics, string theory, and modified gravity alternatives explored at institutions like Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley.

He has held appointments at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute and participated in survey programs with the Dark Energy Survey, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (now Vera C. Rubin Observatory), and the Zwicky Transient Facility, collaborating with researchers from Yale University, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan. His work on the Hubble constant involves cross-comparisons with distance ladder studies from teams at Carnegie Institution for Science, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, as well as independent determinations from baryon acoustic oscillation analyses tied to the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and Lyman-alpha forest projects.

Nobel Prize and major awards

Riess shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with colleagues from research that included leaders of the High-Z Supernova Search Team and members from the Supernova Cosmology Project, recognized alongside scientists associated with institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. He has received other major honors including the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, the Gruber Cosmology Prize, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, and awards from organizations such as the Royal Astronomical Society, the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. These accolades join a history of prizes and fellowships shared with collaborators from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Stanford University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Oxford.

Personal life

Riess's personal biography connects him to communities in Philadelphia and to academic networks spanning Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., through affiliations with Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and MIT. He has participated in public outreach and lectures alongside scientists from public institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Royal Society, engaging with science communication initiatives linked to programs at the National Science Foundation, the European Space Agency, and NASA.

Selected publications and contributions

Riess authored and coauthored influential papers reporting measurements of cosmic acceleration using Type Ia supernovae, collaborating with authors from the High-Z Supernova Search Team and the Supernova Cosmology Project, and publishing in journals and venues tied to the American Physical Society, the American Astronomical Society, and international publishers used by teams at Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. His work forms part of citation networks that include landmark studies from teams at Princeton University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Max Planck Society, and the Kavli Foundation, and it underpins observational strategies employed by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Keck Observatory, the Very Large Telescope, and future programs at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Category:American astrophysicists Category:Nobel laureates in Physics