| 1 | Name: | Dr. P. James E. Peebles | |
| Institution: | Princeton University | ||
| Year Elected: | 2004 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 101. Astronomy | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1935 | ||
An outstanding theoretical cosmologist, Jim Peebles has pioneered two important themes of modern cosmology: using physics and observations to reach a better understanding of cosmic evolution from the big bang, and seeking a quantitative understanding of the large-scale structure of the universe. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1962, Dr. Peebles started to look into testable effects of a hot dense epoch after the big bang. In particular, he found that if thermal radiation exists, the universe must have gone through a stage about 100 seconds after the big bang when about 25 percent of the matter combined to form helium nuclei (the sun is about 25 percent helium). The agreement between observations and the theory of the abundance of light nuclei is a major factor in support of the modern cosmological model. Dr. Peebles has been associated with Princeton University, where he is presently Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus, for over 40 years. A member of the American Physical Society, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Peebles has received many honors for his accomplishments, including the A.C. Morrison Award in National Science (1977), the Royal Astronomical Society's Eddington Medal (1981) and Gold Medal (1998) and the Gruber Cosmology Prize (2000). In 2019 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. | |||