American Philosophical Society
Member History

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1Name:  Dr. Jeremiah P. Ostriker
 Institution:  Princeton University
 Year Elected:  1994
 Class:  1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
 Subdivision:  101. Astronomy
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Living
 Birth Date:  1937
   
 
Jeremiah Ostriker was born April 13, 1937 in New York. He received his A.B. in physics and chemistry from Harvard University in 1959 and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Chicago in 1964 under the direction of S. Chandrasekhar. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he went to the University of Cambridge (England) as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. In 1965 he came to Princeton University as an Assistant Professor, rising through the ranks to Professor, where he continues to teach and conduct research. At Princeton University, in addition to his professorship, he was the Chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Director of the Princeton University Observatory from 1979 to 1995 when he became the Provost of the University, leaving that position in 2001. He spent the years 2001-2004 as the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge (England). He was the Director of the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (PICSciE) at Princeton University, from 2005-15. Within the National Academy of Sciences, Ostriker was elected Treasurer for the term 2008-2012 and, associated with that position, is a member of the NAS Council and the Governing Board of the National Research Committee (1994-95 and 2007-08), the Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (1977-80), the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Resources (1987-91), and the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (1992-95). He was a member of the Class I (Physical Sciences) Membership Committee in 1977, 1978, 1987, 1988, 1993, 2007 and 2008. He served on the Executive Committee of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decennial Surveys (1969-73, 1978-83 and 1988-91), recently chaired the Committee to Examine the Methodology for the Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs (2002-03), and the Committee to Assess Research Doctorate Programs (2005-08). Ostriker is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the International Astronomical Union, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Royal Astronomical Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he was recently elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. He is a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and was on the Editorial Board and Trustee of the Princeton University Press. Over the years, Ostriker has received numerous awards for his achievements, including a National Science Foundation Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Helen B. Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Sherman Fairchild Fellowship of the California Institute of Technology, the Henry Norris Russell Prize of the American Astronomical Society, the Smithsonian Institution's Regents Fellowship, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Vainu Bappu Memorial Award of the Indian National Science Academy, the Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft of Germany, the U.S. National Medal of Science, the British Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal, the James Craig Watson Medal of the National Academy of Science, and the Bruce Medal from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The U.S. National Medal of Science recognized him "for his bold astrophysical insights, which have revolutionized concepts of the nature of pulsars, the 'ecosystem' of stars and gas in our Galaxy, the sizes and masses of galaxies, the nature and distribution of dark matter and ordinary matter in the Universe, and the formation of galaxies and other cosmological structures." Ostriker has been an influential researcher in one of the most exciting areas of modern science, theoretical astrophysics, with current primary work in the area of cosmology, particularly in the efforts to measure and determine the nature of the prevalent dark matter and dark energy components. He has investigated many areas of astrophysical research, including the structure and oscillations of rotating stars, the stability of galaxies, the evolution of globular clusters and other star systems, pulsars, X-ray binary stars, the dynamics of clusters of galaxies, gravitational lensing, astrophysical blast waves, quasars, active galactic nuclei and the formation of galaxies. Ostriker has pioneered in the development of very large-scale numerical simulations of astrophysical phenomena such as galaxy formation and quasar feedback. He continues to teach, supervise and collaborate with many graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and senior researchers.
 
Election Year
1994 (1)