R. Michael Rich

R. Michael Rich
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
EducationPomona College (BA)
California Institute of Technology (PhD)
SpouseSusan Rich
Children2
AwardsDudley Observatory Career Development Award (1988)

Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1991-1993)

NASA Group Achievement Award (2004)
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsCarnegie Institution
Columbia University
University of California, Los Angeles
ThesisAbundance and kinematics of K giants in the Galactic nuclear bulge (1986)
Doctoral advisorJeremy R. Mould
Doctoral studentsNeil deGrasse Tyson

Robert Michael Rich (born 1957) is an American astrophysicist. He obtained his B.A. at Pomona College in 1979 and earned his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1986 under thesis supervisor Jeremy Mould. He was a Carnegie Fellow at Carnegie/DTM until 1988, when he became an assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia University; during this period, he was the doctoral advisor to Neil deGrasse Tyson.[1] After two years (1996-1998) as a senior research scientist at Columbia, he joined the University of California, Los Angeles as a research astronomer in 1998. As of 2024, he remains affiliated with UCLA as a researcher emeritus/adjunct professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics.

Rich is known for his work on the Galactic bulge, including the first measurement of the distribution of stellar abundances[2] and the first map of the bulge stellar kinematics.[3] He also led the team (HST-GO-9099) that discovered the first, and as yet the only confirmed, intermediate mass black hole in the Globular cluster, G1 in M31.[4] Rich has over 450 refereed publications, including 10 articles in the journal Nature and over 100 invited talks at international science meetings. Rich was a member of the Galex science team and is a member of the COSMOS survey team and the LSST project (Milky Way and Local Volume Collaboration). Rich is also a member of the executive committee of the UCLA Faculty Center Board of Governors,[5] and the American Astronomical Society and International Astronomical Union.[6]

  1. ^ "Neil deGrasse Tyson". Hayden Planetarium.
  2. ^ Rich, R. Michael (March 1988). "Spectroscopy and Abundances of 88 K Giants in Baade's Window". Astronomical Journal. 95: 828. Bibcode:1988AJ.....95..828R. doi:10.1086/114681.
  3. ^ Rich, R. Michael; Reitzel, David B.; Howard, Christian D.; Zhao, Hongsheng (March 2007). "The Bulge Radial Velocity Assay: Techniques and a Rotation Curve". The Astrophysical Journal. 658 (1): L29–L32. arXiv:astro-ph/0611403. Bibcode:2007ApJ...658L..29R. doi:10.1086/513509. S2CID 14332972.
  4. ^ "Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places". NASA HubbleSite. September 17, 2002.
  5. ^ "Faculty Center Board of Governors". UCLA Faculty Center.
  6. ^ "Administration". International Astronomical Union.