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Peter Goldreich

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Peter Goldreich
Peter Goldreich in 1980
Born(1939-07-14)July 14, 1939(age 85)
Alma materCornell University
Known forGoldreich-Kylafis effect
AwardsChapmanMedal of theRoyal 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
FieldsAstronomyandAstrophysics
InstitutionsCaltech
Institute for Advanced Study
Doctoral advisorThomas Gold
Doctoral students

Peter Goldreich(born July 14, 1939) is an Americanastrophysicistwhose research focuses oncelestial mechanics,planetary rings,helioseismologyandneutron stars.[4]He is the Lee DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics atCalifornia Institute of Technology.Since 2005 he has also been a professor at theInstitute for Advanced StudyinPrinceton, New Jersey.[5][1]Asteroid3805 Goldreichis named after him.[6]

Career

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Goldreich received a bachelor of science in engineering physics fromCornell Universityin 1960, and obtained a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1963 under the supervision ofThomas Gold.[7][8][9][10]In 1963 and 1964 Goldreich was a postdoctoral fellow atCambridge University.[11]From 1964 to 1966 he was anassistant professorof astronomy and geophysics atUCLA.Goldreich joined the faculty atCaltechin 1966 as anassociate professor.[8][12]He later became a fullprofessorin 1969 while remaining at Caltech, and in 1981 he became theLee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physicsalso at Caltech.[8]He also sits on the Board of Adjudicators for theShaw Prize,and the selection committee for Astronomy Prizes.

Scientific accomplishments

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In 1966 Goldreich published a classic paper on the evolution ofthe Moon's orbitand 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 anorbital precessionmostly due to the tidal influence of the planet), whereas moons further away maintain an almost constant orbital inclination with respect to theecliptic(with precession due mostly to the tidal influence of the Sun). The moons in the first category, with the exception ofNeptune's moonTriton,orbit near the equatorial plane. He concluded that these moons formed from equatorialaccretion disks.But he found that the 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 andAlar Toomrefirst described the process ofpolar wanderin a 1969 paper, although evidence ofpaleomagnetismwas not discovered until later.[15]Goldreich collaborated withGeorge Abellto conclude thatplanetary nebulaeevolved fromred giantstars, a view that is now widely accepted.[16][17]In 1979 Goldreich, along withScott Tremainepredicted thatSaturn's F ring was maintained byshepherd moons,a prediction that would be confirmed by observations in 1980.[18][19][20][21]They also predicted thatUranus' 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 explainhot jupiters.[23][24][25]

In 1969, Goldreich published a paper[26]together with William Julian that is now considered a classic work on pulsar magnetospheres. They provided a simple and compelling model for the structure of magnetic fields anchored in a neutron star and showed that these fields can extract the neutron star rotational energy to power electromagnetic emission. Similar considerations were later used to understand the magnetospheres of rotating black holes.[27]

Awards and honors

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In 1995, Goldreich received theNational Medal of Sciencefor "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][31][32]

Goldreich was awarded theGrande Médailleof theFrench Academy of Sciencein 2006 for his numerous contributions in the field of Astrophysics.[10][12][33][34][35]

Goldreich received the 2007Shaw Prizein Astronomy "in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences".[36]

References

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  1. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstu"PETER GOLDREICH APPOINTED FACULTY MEMBER IN THE SCHOOL OF NATURAL SCIENCES".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-03-05.
  2. ^abcde"Origins Institute – Public Lectures – Peter Goldreich".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-06.
  3. ^ab"Professor of astrophysics to give lecture series on planets".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-07.Retrieved2007-05-11.
  4. ^"Caltech Astronomy: Peter Goldreich's Research Interests".Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-12.
  5. ^"L'Académie des Sciences remet la Grande Médaille 2006 à l'astrophysicien américain Peter Goldreich".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-10-27.
  6. ^"Citation for (3805)".Minor Planet Center.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^"Institute for Advanced Study: Faculty and Emeriti: Goldreich".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-16.
  8. ^abc"Peter Goldreich".
  9. ^"Random Samples".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-09-30.
  10. ^ab"PMA Division News Honors & Awards".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-07.
  11. ^"Prof. Peter Goldreich: Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physics, Caltech".
  12. ^ab"Archives for Honors and Awards".
  13. ^Peter Goldreich (Nov 1966). "History of the Lunar Orbit".Reviews of Geophysics.4(4): 411–439.Bibcode:1966RvGSP...4..411G.doi:10.1029/RG004i004p00411.Termed "classic" byJihad Touma&Jack Wisdom(Nov 1994)."Evolution of the Earth-Moon system".The Astronomical Journal.108:1943.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.527(7579): 492–494.arXiv:1603.06515.Bibcode:2015Natur.527..492P.doi:10.1038/nature16137.PMID26607544.S2CID4456736.
  15. ^Kerr, R. A. (2000). "Did the Dinosaurs Live on a Topsy-Turvy Earth?".Science.287(5452): 406–407.doi:10.1126/science.287.5452.406.S2CID129200632.
  16. ^"University of California: In Memoriam, 1985".
  17. ^"The Stars by Night and Day".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-10-08.
  18. ^"Historical Background of Saturn's Rings".
  19. ^"Chaos Seen in Movement of Ring-Herding Moons of Saturn".Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
  20. ^"New Clues Emerge in Mystery of Planetary Rings".The New York Times.December 8, 1999.RetrievedMay 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 fromthe originalon 2007-10-11.
  23. ^"The three first giant exoplanets".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-02-19.Retrieved2007-05-11.
  24. ^"PLUTO, KBOs AND A NEW THEORY OF PLANETARY FORMATION".Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-01.
  25. ^Glanz, J. (1997)."Worlds Around Other Stars Shake Planet Birth Theory".Science.276(5317): 1336–1339.Bibcode:1997Sci...276.1336G.doi:10.1126/science.276.5317.1336.S2CID119044504.[permanent dead link]
  26. ^Goldreich, Peter; Julian, William (1969). "Pulsar electrodynamics".The Astrophysical Journal.157:869.Bibcode:1969ApJ...157..869G.doi:10.1086/150119.
  27. ^Blandford, Roger; Znajek, Roman (1977)."Electromagnetic extraction of energy from Kerr black holes".MNRAS.179(3): 433–456.arXiv:astro-ph/0506302.Bibcode:1977MNRAS.179..433B.doi:10.1093/mnras/179.3.433.
  28. ^"California Scientist of the Year Award Recipients".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-05.
  29. ^"YEAR 2003 DPS AWARD RECIPIENTS".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-06-03.
  30. ^"Fellowship of the Royal Society: Current Foreign Members".Royal Society.Retrieved31 July2013.
  31. ^"The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-03.
  32. ^"JEWISH RECIPIENTS OF THE US NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-27.
  33. ^"French Academy of Science awards Grand Medal to astrophysicist Peter Goldreich".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-10-27.
  34. ^"Archives for Honors and Awards"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2008-10-31.
  35. ^"Institute for Advanced Study: The Institute Letter".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-10-30.
  36. ^"The Shaw Prize – Peter Goldreich – Announcement and Citation".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-09-08.Retrieved2007-06-14.
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