Jim Peebles | |
|---|---|
 Peebles in 2010 | |
| Born | Phillip James Edwin Peebles April 25, 1935 |
| Nationality | Canadian, American |
| Education | University of Manitoba (BS) Princeton University (MS, PhD) |
| Known for | Cosmic microwave background radiation Cosmic infrared background Cold dark matter Lyman-alpha emitter Primordial isocurvature baryon model Quintessence Recombination Ostriker–Peebles criterion |
| Spouse |
Alison Peebles (m. 1958) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Eddington Medal (1981) Heineman Prize (1982) Bruce Medal (1995) Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1998) Gruber Prize (2000) Harvey Prize (2001) Shaw Prize (2004) Crafoord Prize (2005) Dirac Medal (2013) Order of Manitoba (2017) Nobel Prize in Physics (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics Physical cosmology |
| Institutions | Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study |
| Thesis | Observational tests and theoretical problems relating to the conjecture that the strength of the electromagnetic interaction may be variable (1962) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Dicke |
| Doctoral students | |
Phillip James Edwin Peebles CC OM FRS (born April 25, 1935) is a Canadian-American astrophysicist, astronomer, and theoretical cosmologist who was Albert Einstein Professor in Science, emeritus, at Princeton University.[1][2] He is widely regarded as one of the world's leading theoretical cosmologists in the period since 1970, with major theoretical contributions to primordial nucleosynthesis, dark matter, the cosmic microwave background, and structure formation.
Peebles was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2019 for his theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology.[3] He shared the prize with Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star.[4][5][6] While much of his work relates to the development of the universe from its first few seconds, he is more skeptical about what we can know about the very beginning, and stated, "It's very unfortunate that one thinks of the beginning whereas in fact, we have no good theory of such a thing as the beginning."[7]
Peebles has described himself as a convinced agnostic.[8]
- ^ "Princeton University Physics Department". Archived from the original on May 11, 2011.
- ^ "Princeton University News". Archived from the original on April 13, 2016.
- ^ Hooper, Dan (October 12, 2019). "A Well-Deserved Physics Nobel - Jim Peebles' award honors modern cosmological theory at last". Scientific American. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019". Nobel Media AB. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth; Specia, Megan (October 8, 2019). "Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Cosmic Discoveries - The cosmologist James Peebles split the prize with the astrophysicists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, for work the Nobel judges said "transformed our ideas about the cosmos."". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
- ^ Kaplan, Sarah (October 8, 2019). "Nobel Prize in physics awarded for research on exoplanets and the structure of the universe". Washington Post. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ Couronne, Ivan (November 14, 2019). "Top cosmologist's lonely battle against 'Big Bang' theory". Phys.org. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Jim Peebles - Session II". www.aip.org. April 1, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2019.