Brian Schmidt

At 57 years old, Brian Schmidt physical status not available right now. We will update Brian Schmidt's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Brian Paul Schmidt (born 24 February 1967) is the Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU).

He was previously a distinguished Professor, Australia Research Council Laureate Fellow, and astrophysicist at the University's Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

He is best known for his studies into using supernovae as cosmological probes.

He currently holds an Australia Research Council Federation Fellowship and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012.

Schmidt also praised Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for revealing that the universe is expanding, making him the only Montana-born Nobel Laureate.

Early life and education

Schmidt, the sole child, was born in Missoula, Montana, where his father, Dana C. Schmidt, was a fisheries biologist. When he was 13, his family moved to Anchorage, Alaska.

Schmidt graduated in 1985 from Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska. Since being about five years old, he has aspired to be a meteorologist, and he has expressed it [but]... I spent a little while at the USA National Weather Service in Anchorage, but I didn't like it much. It was less scientific and not as exciting as I imagined it would be—as there was a lot of repetition. But I guess I was just a little unclear about what being a meteorologist entails." Right before enrolling at university, he decided to study astronomy, which he described as "a minor pastime." And then, he wasn't completely committed: he said, "I'll do astronomy and change into something else later" and "I'll do astronomy and change into something else," but he never made the change.

In 1989, he graduated with a BS (Physics) and BS (Astronomy). He earned his AM (Astronomy) in 1992 and then PhD (Astronomy) in 1993 from Harvard University. Robert Kirshner supervised Schmidt's PhD thesis, and the Hubble Constant was measured using a Type II Supernovae.

He met his future wife, Jennifer M. Gordon, who was a PhD student in economics, while at Harvard. They immigrated to Australia in 1994.

Personal life

Jennifer Gordon Schmidt is the husband of Jeanette Gordon. They met while both preparing for their PhDs at Harvard – he in astronomy and she in economics. They decided to settle in Australia, which he had already visited on several occasions to visit family. He now has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States.

With his tagline, he is not religious, and neither do you."

Maipenrai Vineyard and Winery, a small winery established in 2000 in Sutton, near Canberra, is owned and operated by Schmidt and his wife. The vineyard grows only pinot noir grapes, and the wines have received rave reviews. "It's much simpler to sell your wine when you have a Nobel award," Schmidt said. He presented King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with a bottle of wine from his winery at the 2011 Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm.

Schmidt was invited to serve on the board of the Australian Wine Research Institute of the federal government in 2013. Schmidt brings "a unique blend of scientific innovation, wine industry experience, and board experience," the Institute's chairman said.

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Research and career

Schmidt spent time at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (1993–1994) before moving to the Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1995.

Schmidt and Nicholas B. Suntzeff formed the High-Z Supernova Search Team in 1994 to determine the predicted deceleration of the universe and the deceleration factor (q0) using distances to Type Ia supernovaes. Schmidt was elected the overall head of the HZT in 1995 at a meeting at the Center for Astrophysics. Schmidt led the team from Australia and New Zealand in the HZT paper with first author Adam Riess the first evidence is shown that the universe's expansion rate is not slowing; it is increasing. The team's findings were contrary to then-current models, which suggested that the universe's expansion should be slowing down, and Schmidt assumed it was an error and spent the next six weeks trying to find the mistake. But there was no mistake: these billion-year-old stars and their galaxies were accelerating away from our reference frame, contrary to hope, by tracking the sun's brightness and measuring the redshift of the supernovae. This result was also obtained by the Supernova Cosmology Project, led by Saul Perlmutter. The corroborating evidence between the two competing studies led to the acceptance of the accelerating universe theory as well as new inquiry into the origins of the universe, including the existence of dark energy. Science named the accelerating Universe 'Breakthrough of the Year' in 1998, and Schmidt and Riess and Perlmutter were both named with the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering research.

Schmidt is currently leading the SkyMapper telescope Project and the associated Southern Sky Survey, which will include billions of individual objects, allowing the team to find the most unusual objects. They announced the discovery of the first star that did not contain iron in 2014, indicating that it is a very primitive species that appeared during the first rush of star formation following the Big Bang.

He is the chairman of Astronomy Australia Limited's board of directors, as well as the chairman of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO). Schmidt was granted a three-year term to serve on the Questacon Advisory Council in July 2012. Schmidt is a member of the Atomic Scientists' Board of Sponsors as of March 2017.

Schmidt announced on June 24th that he would replace Ian Young as the 12th Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University, beginning on January 1, 2016. "Brian Schmidt is uniquely placed to succeed on ANU's founding's aspirations, to permanently secure our position among the world's top universities, as a key contributor to the nation," the ANU's Chancellor, Professor Gareth Evans, said. ... Brian's vision, vitality, global fame, and communication skills are all likely to lead our national university to places it never has been before."

Schmidt was given the opportunity to inform the public that science is important to society and advocate for associated causes thanks to the media's success.

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