Saul Perlmutter

Saul Perlmutter (born September 22, 1959) is a U.S.

astrophysicist, a professor of physics at the University Saul Perlmutter
of California, Berkeley, where he holds the Franklin W.
and Karen Weber Dabby Chair, and head of the
International Supernova Cosmology Project at the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is a
member of both the American Academy of Arts &
Sciences and the American Philosophical Society,[2]
and was elected a Fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science in 2003. He is also a
member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Perlmutter shared the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy,
the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, and the 2015
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with Brian
P. Schmidt and Adam Riess for providing evidence that
the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Since
2021, he has been a member of the President’s Council Perlmutter in 2024
of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).[3]
Born September 22, 1959
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, U.S.

Education Nationality American

Education Harvard University (AB)
Saul Perlmutter was born one of three children in the University of California, Berkeley
Ashkenazi Jewish family of Daniel D. Perlmutter, (PhD)
professor emeritus of chemical and biomolecular Known for Accelerating universe / Dark
engineering at University of Pennsylvania, and Felice energy
(Feige) D. Perlmutter (née Davidson), professor
Spouse Laura Nelson (1 child)
emerita of Temple University’s School of Social
Awards Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award
Administration.[4][5] His maternal grandfather, the
(2002)
Yiddish teacher Samuel Davidson (1903–1989),
Shaw Prize in Astronomy (2006)
emigrated to Canada (and then with his wife Chaika
Gruber Prize in Cosmology
Newman to New York) from the Bessarabian town of
(2007)
Floreşti in 1919.[6]
Nobel Prize in Physics (2011)
Perlmutter spent his childhood in the Mount Airy Breakthrough Prize in
neighborhood of Philadelphia. He went to school in Fundamental Physics (2015)
nearby Germantown; first Greene Street Friends Scientific career
School for the elementary grades, followed by Fields Physics
Germantown Friends School for grades 7 through
Institutions University of California,
12.[7] He graduated with an AB in physics from
Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley
Harvard magna cum laude in 1981 and received his
National Laboratory
PhD in physics from Berkeley in 1986. Perlmutter's
PhD thesis, titled "An Astrometric Search for a Stellar Thesis An Astrometric Search for a
Companion to the Sun" and supervised by Richard A. Stellar Companion to the Sun (ht
[8]
Muller, described the development and use of an tps://www.proquest.com/docvie
automated telescope to search for Nemesis w/303395845/) (1986)
[1]
candidates. At the same time, he was using this Doctoral Richard A. Muller[1]
telescope to search for Nemesis and supernovae, which advisor
would lead him to his award-winning work in
cosmology.[9] Perlmutter attributes the idea for an automated supernova search to Luis Alvarez, a 1968
Nobel laureate, who shared his idea with Perlmutter's research adviser.[9]

Work
Perlmutter heads the Supernova Cosmology Project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was
this team along with the competing High-z Supernova Search Team led by Riess and Schmidt, which
found evidence of the accelerating expansion of the universe based on observing Type Ia supernova in the
distant universe. Type Ia supernova occurs whenever a white dwarf star gains enough additional mass to
pass above the Chandrasekhar limit, usually by stealing additional mass from a companion star. Since all
Type Ia supernovae are believed to occur in essentially the same way, they form a standard candle whose
intrinsic luminosity can be assumed to be approximately the same in all cases. By measuring the apparent
luminosity of the explosion from Earth, researchers can then infer the distance to supernova. Comparing
this inferred distance to the apparent redshift of the explosion allows the observer to measure both the
distance and relative velocity of the supernova.

The Supernova Cosmology Project concluded that these distant

supernovae were receding more quickly than would be expected
due to the Hubble expansion alone, and, by inference, the
expansion of the universe must have been accelerated over the
billions of years since the supernovae occurred. The High-z Team
also came to a similar conclusion. The two teams' reports were
published within weeks of each other, and their conclusions were
readily accepted by the scientific community due to corroborating
theories.[10] This conclusion has subsequently been supported by Perlmutter in 2024
other lines of evidence. These findings reinvigorated research into
the nature of the universe, and especially into the role of dark
energy.[10] For this work Perlmutter was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared jointly with
Riess and Schmidt.[10]

Perlmutter is also a lead investigator in the Supernova/Acceleration Probe project, which aims to build a
satellite dedicated to finding and studying more supernovae in the distant universe. The goal is to more
precisely determine the rate at which the universe has been accelerating. He is also a participant in the
Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, which aims to increase our understanding of recent global
warming through improved analyses of climate data.
Perlmutter is a professor and currently teaches at UC Berkeley.

Awards and recognition

In 2002, Perlmutter won the Department of Energy's E. O. Lawrence
Award in Physics. In 2003, he was awarded the California Scientist of
the Year Award, and, in 2005, he won the John Scott Award and the
Padua Prize. In 2006, he shared the Shaw Prize in Astronomy with
Adam Riess and Brian P. Schmidt.[11] The same year, Perlmutter won
the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize.

Perlmutter and his team shared the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize (a
$500,000 award) with Schmidt and the High-Z Team for discovering Perlmutter, Adam Riess, and
the accelerating expansion of the universe. In 2010, Perlmutter was Brian P. Schmidt being awarded
the 2006 Shaw Prize in
named a Miller Senior Fellow of the Miller Institute at the University
Astronomy. The trio would later
of California Berkeley. In 2011, Perlmutter and Riess were named co- be awarded the 2011 Nobel
recipients of the Albert Einstein Medal. Prize in Physics.

Perlmutter shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Riess and
Schmidt.[11] The Nobel Prize includes a SEK 10 million cash
award (approximately US$1.5 million). Perlmutter received one-
half of the cash prize, while Riess and Schmidt shared the other
half.[11]

In 2014, Perlmutter received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement.[12]

Perlmutter, Schmidt, Riess and their teams shared the 2015

Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics with $3 million to be
split among them.[13]

A United States Department of Energy 2020 supercomputer is

named Perlmutter in his honor.[14]

Family Perlmutter presenting his Nobel

lecture at Aula Magna
Saul Perlmutter has two sisters: Shira Perlmutter (b. 1956), a
lawyer, and Tova Perlmutter (b. 1967), a nonprofit executive. He
is married to Laura Nelson, an anthropologist at University of California, Berkeley, and has one daughter,
Noa.[15]

Popular culture
Reference to Saul Perlmutter was made on the CBS television comedy series The Big Bang Theory during
the 2011 episode "The Speckerman Recurrence". In the episode, the character Sheldon Cooper watches
the Nobel award ceremony on his laptop, and jealously berates Perlmutter: "Look at Dr. Saul Perlmutter
up there, clutching that Nobel prize. What's the matter Saul, you afraid somebody's going to steal it? Like
you stole Einstein's cosmological constant?" Then later: "Oh, now Perlmutter's shaking the King's hand.
Yeah, check for your watch, Gustaf, he might have lifted it."

Perlmutter was also referenced in the 2011 episode of The Big Bang Theory, "The Rhinitis Revelation".
In a conversation with his mother, Sheldon says, "I’ve got a treat for us tomorrow, Mom. I’m taking you
to see Saul Perlmutter give a lecture about his Nobel Prize-winning work in cosmology. And the best part
is, at the Q and A afterward, I’ve worked up a couple of Q’s that will stump his sorry A." Later in the
episode, Sheldon criticises the lecture and questions the decision to award Perlmutter a Nobel Prize.

Technical reports and conference/event proceedings

Perlmutter, S., et al. "Progress Report on the Berkeley/Anglo-Australian Observatory High-
redshift Supernova Search" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5838943-progress-report-berkeley-a
nglo-australian-observatory-high-redshift-supernova-search), Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, (November 1990).
Perlmutter, S., et al. "Discovery of the Most Distant Supernovae and the Quest for {Omega}"
(https://www.osti.gov/biblio/29349-discovery-most-distant-supernovae-quest-omega),
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, (May 1994).
Perlmutter, S., et al. "Discovery of a Supernova Explosion at Half the Age of the Universe
and its Cosmological Implications" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/974166-discovery-supernova-
explosion-half-age-universe-its-cosmological-implications), Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, (December 16, 1997).
Perlmutter, S., et al. "The Distant Type Ia Supernova Rate" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/8074
02-distant-type-ia-supernova-rate), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, (May 28, 2002).
Perlmutter, S., et al. "The Supernova Legacy Survey: Measurement of Omega_M,
Omega_Lambda, and w from the First Year Data Set" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/876215-su
pernova-legacy-survey-measurement-omega_m-omega_lambda-from-first-year-data-set),
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, (October 14, 2005).
Perlmutter, S. "Supernovae, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe: How DOE Helped
to Win (yet another) Nobel Prize" (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1032838-supernovae-dark-ene
rgy-accelerating-universe-how-doe-helped-win-yet-another-nobel-prize), Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, (January 13, 2012).

See also
List of Jewish Nobel laureates
Cosmological constant
Dark energy
Dark matter

References
1. Goldhaber, Gerson (2009). The Acceleration of the Expansion of the Universe: A Brief Early
 History of the Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP). Proceedings of the 8th UCLA Dark
Matter Symposium. Vol. 1166. pp. 53–72. arXiv:0907.3526 (https://arxiv.org/abs/0907.3526).
Bibcode:2009AIPC.1166...53G (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AIPC.1166...53G).
doi:10.1063/1.3232196 (https://doi.org/10.1063%2F1.3232196). S2CID 15163786 (https://a
pi.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15163786).
2. "APS Member History" (https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Saul+Perlmut
ter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanc
ed). search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
3. "President Biden Announces Members of President's Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology" (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/22/pre
sident-biden-announces-members-of-presidents-council-of-advisors-on-science-and-technol
ogy/). whitehouse.gov. 22 September 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
4. "CBE Faculty – Daniel D. Perlmutter" (http://www.cbe.seas.upenn.edu/about-people/faculty/
profile-perlmutter.php). upenn.edu.
5. "Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research – Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin" (htt
p://bulletin.brynmawr.edu/archways/gsswsr-august-2011/). brynmawr.edu.
6. "Samuel Davidson; Led Yiddish Culture Revival" (http://articles.philly.com/1989-12-05/news/
26157213_1_yiddish-culture-yiddish-language-jewish-cultural-organization). philly-archives.
7. Tom Avril (October 4, 2011). "Astrophysicist with Philly roots awarded Nobel Prize" (http://art
icles.philly.com/2011-10-04/news/30242928_1_astrophysicist-adam-riess-elementary-grade
s). The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
8. Saul Perlmutter (1986). "An Astrometric Search for a Stellar Companion to the Sun" (https://
digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1207884/). Office of Scientific & Technical
Information (OSTI) Technical Reports, University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital
Library, UNT Libraries Government Documents Department. Bibcode:1986PhDT........20P (h
ttps://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1986PhDT........20P). doi:10.2172/6484337 (https://doi.org/
10.2172%2F6484337). OSTI 6484337 (https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6484337); also published
at Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy website
(osti.gov)
9. David Appell (April 21, 2008). "Discovering a Dark Universe: A Q&A with Saul Perlmutter" (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20111116023019/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?i
d=discovering-a-dark-universe). Scientific American. Archived from the original (http://www.s
cientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=discovering-a-dark-universe) on November 16, 2011.
10. Palmer, Jason (2011-10-04). "Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find" (http
s://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371). BBC. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
11. "Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scien
ce-environment-15165371). BBC News. October 4, 2011.
12. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" (https://achievement.or
g/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration). www.achievement.org. American
Academy of Achievement.
13. "Breakthrough Prize" (https://breakthroughprize.org). breakthroughprize.org.
14. Moss, Sebastian. "Lawrence Berkeley to install Perlmutter supercomputer featuring Cray's
Shasta system" (https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/news/lawrence-berkeley-install-perlm
utter-supercomputer-featuring-crays-shasta-system/). Data Centre Dynamics. Retrieved
13 January 2019.
15. "Scientist Discovers The Genuine Dark Side" (http://physics.berkeley.edu/index.php?option=
com_dept_management&act=news&Itemid=419&task=view&id=78). Contra Costa Times.

External links
 Supernova Cosmology Project Website (http://supernova.lbl.gov/)
Supernova Cosmology Project (http://www.oarval.org/SCPen.htm)
Shaw Prize Press Release (http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-Shaw-prize.ht
ml)
Saul Perlmutter (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/864) on Nobelprize.org
Nobel Prize in Physics Press Release (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laur
eates/2011/press.html)
List of scholarly publications (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=A
ST&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv
_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv
_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_s
el=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&adsobj
_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=Perlmutter%2C+Saul&object=&start_m
on=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=&nr_to_r
eturn=10000&start_nr=1&jou_pick=ALL&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start
_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&en
d_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=NDATE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES
&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YE
S&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1) as provided by the
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) abstract server.

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