Peter Goldreich Discusses How Bodies Bound by Gravity Can Evolve in Surprising Ways

Peter Goldreich; photo by Andrea Kane

Peter Goldreich, Professor Emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will discuss “The Evolution of Bodies Bound by Gravity” at a lecture on Friday, October 30, at 6:00 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute’s campus.

Professor Goldreich will explain how bodies bound by gravity can evolve in surprising ways. He will talk about how, in accord with everyday experience and physical law, heat flows from regions of high to low temperature, and angular momentum from regions of fast to slow spin. Goldreich will focus on how, counter to intuition, in bodies supported by thermal pressure, the hot regions become hotter, whereas in those supported by rotation, the regions of rapid spin spinup.

Goldreich joined the Faculty of the Institute in 2003 and was named Professor Emeritus in 2009. Known for his profound and lasting contributions to planetary sciences and astrophysics, he has provided fundamental theoretical insights for understanding the rotation of planets, the dynamics of planetary rings, pulsars, astrophysical masers, the spiral arms of galaxies, oscillations of the sun and white dwarfs, and turbulence in magnetized fluids.

Goldreich received his education at Cornell University, where he was awarded a B.A. in engineering physics in 1960 and a Ph.D. in physics in 1963. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge, he was named Associate Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Geophysics, University of California, Los Angeles, in 1964. Two years later, he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology as Associate Professor of Planetary Science and Astronomy. In 1969 he was named Professor, and in 1981, Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics. He became Professor Emeritus at Cal Tech in 2003.

Among his honors, Goldreich received the National Medal of Science in 1995 and the Shaw Prize in 2007. He is a Member of the National Academy of Science and a Foreign Member of the British Academy. Goldreich was named California Scientist of the Year in 1981 and received the Royal Astronomical Society’s Chapman Medal in 1985 and its Gold Medal in 1993. The American Astronomical Society presented him with the Dirk Brouwer Award in 1986 and the Kuiper Prize in 1992, and he received the Grande médaille of French Academy of Sciences in 2006.

For further information about this event, which is free and open to the public, please call (609) 734-8175, or visit the Public Events page on the Institute website.