Prize a sure thing for ANU astronomer

ANU astronomer and Federation Fellow Professor Brian Schmidt has been selected as one of the winners of the US$1 million Shaw Prize for Astronomy 2006.

Professor Schmidt, Professor Saul Perlmutter from the University of California Berkley and Adam Riess from the Space Telescope Science Institute, were selected for discovering that the rate of the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Their result requires the existence of a previously unknown ‘force’ connected to the fabric of space-time - known as ‘dark energy’ - that opposes gravity, driving the acceleration.

Professor Schmidt led an international team, including Mr Riess, called the High-Z Supernovae Search that found the expansion of the universe was speeding up, not slowing down (the commonly held view), by studying a class of exploding stars called Type Ia supernovae. Professor Perlmutter led a second team, which reached similar conclusions.

Professor Schmidt, from the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, also leads the SkyMapper project, which will provide the first deep digital map of the southern sky, allowing astronomers to study everything from nearby objects such as asteroids in our Solar System to the most distant objects in the universe called quasars.

The prestigious Shaw Prize is awarded in three categories - Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences - to individuals whose work has resulted in a positive and profound impact on mankind.

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