William H. Press
Encyclopedia
William H. Press is an astrophysicist, theoretical physicist, and computational biologist. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, and the Council on Foreign Relations
. Other honors include the 1981 Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy
..
In April, 2009, President Obama named Press as a member of his President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST
). In February, 2011, he became President-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
and is scheduled to serve as that organization's 165th President
during 2012.
Press attended public schools in Pasadena, California, graduating from Pasadena High School
in 1965. His undergraduate education was at Harvard, where he received an A.B. in physics in 1969. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics, from Caltech, in 1973, a student of Kip Stephen Thorne. Press was briefly an assistant professor at Caltech, then was assistant professor at Princeton University
(1974-1976) before returning to Harvard as a professor in 1976. At the age of 28, he was the university's then-youngest tenured faculty member (a distinction earlier held by Alan Dershowitz
and later by Lawrence Summers
and -- at age 26 -- Noam Elkies
).
Press was for more than 20 years a professor of astronomy and physics at Harvard University
, and a member of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He was department chair in Astronomy in 1982-1985. In 1998, Press left Harvard to become deputy laboratory director at Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL), serving under Directors John C. Browne and George Peter Nanos
. He oversaw LANL's participation in the Joint Genome Institute
and in the construction of the Spallation Neutron Source
. Press moved to the University of Texas at Austin
in 2007 and, changing his area of research, became the Warren J. and Viola M. Raymer Professor, jointly in the computer science and integrative biology departments.
In the field of general relativity
, Press is best known for his work with Saul Teukolsky
, establishing the dynamic stability of rotating black hole
s. In astrophysics, Press is best known for his discovery, with Paul Schechter
, of the Press-Schechter formalism
, which predicts the distribution of masses of galaxies in the Universe; and for his work with Adam Riess
and Robert Kirshner
on the calibration of distant supernova
s as "standard candles". This latter work enabled the discovery of the accelerating universe
by Riess, Brian Schmidt
, and Saul Perlmutter
, for which they received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Press is a co-author of the successful Numerical Recipes
series of books on scientific computing.
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, and the Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. Other honors include the 1981 Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy
Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy
The Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society to a young astronomer for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy....
..
In April, 2009, President Obama named Press as a member of his President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST
PCAST
The United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is a council, chartered in each administration with a broad mandate to advise the President on science and technology. The current PCAST was established by on September 30, 2001, by President George W...
). In February, 2011, he became President-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
and is scheduled to serve as that organization's 165th President
President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science , founded in 1848, is the world's largest general scientific society. It serves 262 affiliated societies and academies of science and engineering, representing 10 million individuals worldwide...
during 2012.
Press attended public schools in Pasadena, California, graduating from Pasadena High School
Pasadena High School (Pasadena, California)
-History:The school was first established as a district school in 1884 and became Pasadena High School in 1891. In 1928, the school merged into Pasadena Junior College and operated as a four-year school, grades 11, 12, 13 and 14. Pasadena realigned its 6-4-4 school system in 1954 with Pasadena High...
in 1965. His undergraduate education was at Harvard, where he received an A.B. in physics in 1969. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics, from Caltech, in 1973, a student of Kip Stephen Thorne. Press was briefly an assistant professor at Caltech, then was assistant professor at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(1974-1976) before returning to Harvard as a professor in 1976. At the age of 28, he was the university's then-youngest tenured faculty member (a distinction earlier held by Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
and later by Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.Summers is the...
and -- at age 26 -- Noam Elkies
Noam Elkies
Noam David Elkies is an American mathematician and chess master.At age 14, Elkies received a gold medal with a perfect score at the International Mathematical Olympiad, the youngest ever to do so...
).
Press was for more than 20 years a professor of astronomy and physics at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and a member of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He was department chair in Astronomy in 1982-1985. In 1998, Press left Harvard to become deputy laboratory director at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
(LANL), serving under Directors John C. Browne and George Peter Nanos
George Peter Nanos
George Peter Nanos is a former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Vice Admiral in the US Navy. Having served from January 2003 to May 2005, he was one of the shortest serving directors of the laboratory.-Early life:...
. He oversaw LANL's participation in the Joint Genome Institute
Joint Genome Institute
The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute was created in 1997 to unite the expertise and resources in genome mapping, DNA sequencing, technology development, and information sciences pioneered at the DOE genome centers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Lawrence Livermore...
and in the construction of the Spallation Neutron Source
Spallation Neutron Source
The Spallation Neutron Source is an accelerator-based neutron source facility that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development...
. Press moved to the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 2007 and, changing his area of research, became the Warren J. and Viola M. Raymer Professor, jointly in the computer science and integrative biology departments.
In the field of general relativity
General relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
, Press is best known for his work with Saul Teukolsky
Saul Teukolsky
Saul Teukolsky is a theoretical astrophysicist and a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Cornell University. His major research interests include general relativity, relativistic astrophysics, and computational astrophysics.-Biography:...
, establishing the dynamic stability of rotating black hole
Rotating black hole
A rotating black hole is a black hole that possesses spin angular momentum.-Types of black holes:There are four known, exact, black hole solutions to Einstein's equations, which describe gravity in General Relativity. Two of these rotate...
s. In astrophysics, Press is best known for his discovery, with Paul Schechter
Paul L. Schechter
Paul L. Schechter is an astrophysicist and observational cosmologist. He is the William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics at MIT.Schechter received his bachelor's degree from Cornell in 1968, and his Ph.D. degree from Caltech in 1975...
, of the Press-Schechter formalism
Press-Schechter formalism
The Press–Schechter formalism is a mathematical model for predicting the number of objects of a certain mass within a given volume of the Universe. It was described in a famous paper by William H...
, which predicts the distribution of masses of galaxies in the Universe; and for his work with Adam Riess
Adam Riess
Adam Guy Riess is an American astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute and is widely known for his research in using supernovae as Cosmological Probes. Riess shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul...
and Robert Kirshner
Robert Kirshner
Robert Kirshner is the Clowes Professor of Science in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University. Kirshner has worked in several areas of astronomy including the physics of supernovae, supernova remnants, the Large-scale structure of the cosmos, and the use of Supernovae...
on the calibration of distant supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
s as "standard candles". This latter work enabled the discovery of the accelerating universe
Accelerating universe
The accelerating universe is the observation that the universe appears to be expanding at an increasing rate, which in formal terms means that the cosmic scale factor a has a positive second derivative, implying that the velocity at which a given galaxy is receding from us should be continually...
by Riess, Brian Schmidt
Brian Schmidt
Brian L. Schmidt is a music composer for various video games and pinball games. He began in the video game music and sound industry in 1987 as a composer/sound designer and programmer for Williams Electronic Games in Chicago writing music and creating sound effects for pinball machines and coin...
, and Saul Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter
Saul Perlmutter is an American astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of...
, for which they received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Press is a co-author of the successful Numerical Recipes
Numerical Recipes
Numerical Recipes is the generic title of a series of books on algorithms and numerical analysis by William H. Press, Saul Teukolsky, William Vetterling and Brian Flannery. In various editions, the books have been in print since 1986...
series of books on scientific computing.