| Peter Goldreich | |
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Peter Goldreich in 1980
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| Born | July 14, 1939 |
| Fields | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
| Institutions | Caltech Institute for Advanced Study |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Doctoral advisor | Thomas Gold |
| Notable awards |
Chapman Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985)[1] |
Peter Goldreich (born July 14, 1939) is an American astrophysicist whose research focuses on celestial mechanics, planetary rings, helioseismology and neutron stars.[4] He is currently the Lee DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics at California Institute of Technology. Since 2005 he has also been a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.[5][1] Asteroid 3805 Goldreich is named after him.[6]
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Goldreich received a bachelor of science in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1960, and obtained a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1963 under the supervision of Thomas Gold.[7][8][9][10] In 1963 and 1964 Goldreich was a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University.[11] From 1964 to 1966 he was an Assistant Professor of Astronomy & Geophysics at UCLA. Goldreich joined the faculty at Caltech in 1966 as an associate professor.[8][12] He later became a full professor in 1969 while remaining at Caltech, and in 1981 he became the Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physics also at Caltech.[8]
Goldreich and Alar Toomre first described the process of polar wander in a 1969 paper, although evidence of paleomagnetism was not discovered until later.[13] Goldreich collaborated with George Abell to conclude that planetary nebulae evolved from red giant stars, a view that is now widely accepted.[14][15] In 1979 Goldreich, along with Scott Tremaine predicted that Saturn's F ring was maintained by shepherd moons, a prediction that would be confirmed by observations in 1980.[16][17][18][19] They also predicted that Uranus' rings were held in place by similar shepherd moons, a prediction that was confirmed in 1986.[20] Goldreich, along with Tremaine predicted planetary migration in 1980, which would later be invoked to explain hot jupiters.[21][22][23]
In 1995, Goldreich received the National Medal of Science for "his profound and lasting contributions to planetary sciences and astrophysics, providing fundamental theoretical insights for understanding the rotation of planets, the dynamics of planetary rings, pulsars, astrophysical masers, the spiral arms of galaxies, and the oscillations of the Sun".[2][1][27][28]
Goldreich was awarded the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Science in 2006 for his numerous contributions in the field of Astrophysics.[10][12][29][30][31]
Goldreich received the 2007 Shaw Prize in Astronomy "in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences".[32]
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