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ANU media release

Prize a sure thing for ANU astronomer

ANU astronomer and Federation Fellow Professor Brian Schmidt has been awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize for Astronomy 2006 jointly with US colleagues.

Professor Schmidt, with Saul Perlmutter from the University of California Berkley and Adam Riess from the Space Telescope Science Institute, were commended for discovering 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 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 1a 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 US$1 million 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.

During his career, Professor Schmidt has been awarded the Harvard Bok Prize, the inaugural Australian Malcolm McIntosh Prize and the Australian Academy of Science Pawsey Medal, among others. He was named Australia's top scientist in 2004 by Bulletin magazine in its annual Smart 100 list.

Professor Penny Sackett, Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at ANU said that she was delighted at this prestigious public recognition of Professor Schmidt's paradigm-shifting work.

"This is fantastic news, I think I can speak for all of Brian's colleagues here at RSAA and say we're extremely pleased for him, and proud to have an astronomer of his calibre in our ranks," she said.

Professor Schmidt is currently in the United States working on the next step in this research and can be contacted until 2pm, AEST. Professor Sackett is also available for interview.

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