Peter Goldreich

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Peter Goldreich
PeterGoldreich1980.jpg
Peter Goldreich in 1980
Born (1939-07-14) July 14, 1939 (age 79)
Alma materCornell University
AwardsChapman Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1985)[1]

Brouwer Award (1986)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1993)[2][3]
National Medal of Science (1995)

Shaw Prize (2007)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy and Astrophysics
InstitutionsCaltech
Institute for Advanced Study
Doctoral advisorThomas Gold
Doctoral studentsRichard McCray
Jack Wisdom

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]

Career[edit]

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] He also sits on the Board of Adjudicators for the Shaw Prize, and the selection committee for Astronomy Prizes.

Scientific accomplishments[edit]

In 1966 Goldreich published a classic paper on the evolution of the moon's orbit and on the orbits of other moons in the solar system.[13] He showed that for each planet there is a certain distance such that moons closer to the planet than that distance maintain an almost constant orbital inclination with respect to the planet's equator (with a orbital precession mostly due to the tidal influence of the planet), whereas moons further away maintain an almost constant orbital inclination with respect to the ecliptic (with precession due mostly to the tidal influence of the sun). The moons in the first category, with the exception of Neptune's moon Triton, orbit near the equatorial plane. He concluded that these moons formed from equatorial accretion disks. But he found that our moon, although it was once inside the critical distance from the earth, never had an equatorial orbit as would be expected from various scenarios for its origin. This is called the lunar inclination problem, to which various solutions have since been proposed.[14]

Goldreich and Alar Toomre first described the process of polar wander in a 1969 paper, although evidence of paleomagnetism was not discovered until later.[15] Goldreich collaborated with George Abell to conclude that planetary nebulae evolved from red giant stars, a view that is now widely accepted.[16][17] 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.[18][19][20][21] They also predicted that Uranus' rings were held in place by similar shepherd moons, a prediction that was confirmed in 1986.[22] Goldreich, along with Tremaine predicted planetary migration in 1980, which would later be invoked to explain hot jupiters.[23][24][25]

Awards and honors[edit]

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][29][30]

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][31][32][33]

Goldreich received the 2007 Shaw Prize in Astronomy "in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences".[34]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "PETER GOLDREICH APPOINTED FACULTY MEMBER IN THE SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES". Archived from the original on 2008-03-05.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Origins Institute - Public Lectures - Peter Goldreich". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  3. ^ a b "Professor of astrophysics to give lecture series on planets".
  4. ^ "Caltech Astronomy : Peter Goldreich's Research Interests". Archived from the original on 2006-09-12.
  5. ^ "L'Académie des Sciences remet la Grande Médaille 2006 à l'astrophysicien américain Peter Goldreich". Archived from the original on 2007-10-27.
  6. ^ "Citation for (3805)". Minor Planet Center.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Institute for Advanced Study: Faculty and Emeriti: Goldreich". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  8. ^ a b c "Peter Goldreich".
  9. ^ "Random Samples". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  10. ^ a b "PMA Division News Honors & Awards". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  11. ^ "Prof. Peter Goldreich: Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physics, Caltech".
  12. ^ a b "Archives for Honors and Awards".
  13. ^ Peter Goldreich (Nov 1966). "History of the Lunar Orbit". Reviews of Geophysics. Bibcode:1966RvGSP...4..411G. doi:10.1029/RG004i004p00411. Termed "classic" by Jihad Touma & Jack Wisdom (Nov 1994). "Evolution of the Earth-Moon system". The Astronomical Journal. Bibcode:1994AJ....108.1943T. doi:10.1086/117209.
  14. ^ Kaveh Pahlevan & Alessandro Morbidelli (Nov 26, 2015). "Collisionless encounters and the origin of the lunar inclination". Nature. arXiv:1603.06515. Bibcode:2015Natur.527..492P. doi:10.1038/nature16137.
  15. ^ "Did the Dinosaurs Live on a Topsy-Turvy Earth?".
  16. ^ "University of California: In Memoriam, 1985".
  17. ^ "The Stars by Night and Day". Archived from the original on 2007-10-08.
  18. ^ "Historical Background of Saturn's Rings".
  19. ^ "Chaos Seen in Movement of Ring-Herding Moons of Saturn".
  20. ^ "New Clues Emerge in Mystery of Planetary Rings". The New York Times. December 8, 1999. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  21. ^ "Voyager was on target again; in the latest unmanned triumph, Voyager 2 surveyed Uranus and sent back a real bull's-eye".[dead link]
  22. ^ "Cosmologist Scott Tremaine receives two honors". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.
  23. ^ "The three first giant exoplanets".
  24. ^ "PLUTO, KBOs AND A NEW THEORY OF PLANETARY FORMATION". Archived from the original on 2006-09-01.
  25. ^ "Worlds Around Other Stars Shake Planet Birth Theory".[permanent dead link]
  26. ^ "California Scientist of the Year Award Recipients". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  27. ^ "YEAR 2003 DPS AWARD RECIPIENTS". Archived from the original on 2007-06-03.
  28. ^ "Fellowship of the Royal Society : Current Foreign Members". Royal Society. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  29. ^ "The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  30. ^ "JEWISH RECIPIENTS OF THE US NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.
  31. ^ "French Academy of Science awards Grand Medal to astrophysicist Peter Goldreich". Archived from the original on 2007-10-27.
  32. ^ "Archives for Honors and Awards" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-31.
  33. ^ "Institute for Advanced Study: The Institute Letter:". Archived from the original on 2007-10-30.
  34. ^ "The Shaw Prize - Peter Goldreich - Announcement and Citation". Retrieved 2007-06-14.

External links[edit]

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