Brian Schmidt is Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the Australian National University.  As leader of the High-Z SN Search team, he was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter, for his work on the accelerating universe. Schmidt has worked across many areas of astronomy including studying supernovae, gamma ray bursts, gravitational wave transients, exo-planets, and metal poor stars.  

Schmidt completed joint undergraduate degrees in astronomy and physics at the University of Arizona (1989), an astronomy master’s degree (1992) and PhD (1993) from Harvard University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he joined the staff of the Australian National University in 1995. He served as the 12th Vice Chancellor and President of the Australia National University from 2016-2023. 

More about Brian Schmidt and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

Photo: Jamie Kidston © Australian National University.