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{{Short description|American astrophysicist and Nobel laureate (born 1959)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name             = Saul Perlmutter
|image            = Saul Perlmutter 375e309 by Christopher Michel 8202024 01.jpg
|caption          = Perlmutter in 2024
|birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1959|09|22|mf=y}}
|birth_place      = [[Champaign-Urbana]], [[Illinois]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|relatives        = [[Shira Perlmutter]] (sister)
|field            = [[Physics]]
|work_institution = [[University of California, Berkeley]]/[[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]]
|education        = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]])<br> [[University of California, Berkeley]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
|thesis_title     = An Astrometric Search for a Stellar Companion to the Sun
|thesis_url       = https://www.proquest.com/docview/303395845/
|thesis_year      = 1986   
|doctoral_advisor = [[Richard A. Muller]]<ref name="Goldhaber09">{{cite conference |last=Goldhaber |first=Gerson |author-link=Gerson Goldhaber |title=The Acceleration of the Expansion of the Universe: A Brief Early History of the Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP) |conference=Proceedings of the 8th UCLA Dark Matter Symposium |volume=1166 |pages=53–72 |arxiv=0907.3526 |bibcode=2009AIPC.1166...53G |doi=10.1063/1.3232196|year=2009 |s2cid=15163786 }}</ref>
|doctoral_students=<!--please insert-->
|known_for        = [[Accelerating universe]] / [[Dark energy]]
|prizes           = [[Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award]] (2002)<br>[[Shaw Prize|Shaw Prize in Astronomy]] (2006)<br>[[Gruber Prize in Cosmology]] (2007)<br>[[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (2011)<br>[[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] (2015)
|spouse=Laura Nelson (1 child)
}}

'''Saul Perlmutter''' (born September 22, 1959) is an American [[astrophysics|astrophysicist]] who is a professor of physics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where he holds the Franklin W. and Karen Weber Dabby Chair, and is head of the International Supernova Cosmology Project at the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]]. He is a member of both the [[American Academy of Arts & Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Saul+Perlmutter&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-03-12|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and was elected a [[Fellow of the AAAS|Fellow]] of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 2003.  He is a member of the [[List of members of the National Academy of Sciences (Physics)|National Academy of Sciences]]. Perlmutter shared the 2006 [[Shaw Prize|Shaw Prize in Astronomy]], the [[2011 Nobel Prize in Physics]], and the 2015 [[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] with [[Brian P. Schmidt]] and [[Adam Riess]] for providing evidence that the [[Accelerating universe|expansion of the universe is accelerating]]. Since 2021, he has been a member of the [[President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology]] (PCAST).<ref>{{cite web|title=President Biden Announces Members of President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/22/president-biden-announces-members-of-presidents-council-of-advisors-on-science-and-technology/|website=[[White House]]|date=22 September 2021 |access-date=2022-08-18}}</ref>

== Education ==
Saul Perlmutter was born to Felice (Feige) D. Perlmutter (née Davidson), professor emerita of the [[Temple University]] School of Social Administration, and [[Daniel D. Perlmutter]], professor emeritus of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbe.seas.upenn.edu/about-people/faculty/profile-perlmutter.php|title=CBE Faculty – Daniel D. Perlmutter|work=upenn.edu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bulletin.brynmawr.edu/archways/gsswsr-august-2011/|title=Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research – Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin|work=brynmawr.edu|access-date=2011-10-04|archive-date=2011-09-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930031939/http://bulletin.brynmawr.edu/archways/gsswsr-august-2011/|url-status=dead}}</ref> His maternal grandfather, the [[Yiddish]] teacher Samuel Davidson (1903–1989), emigrated from the [[Bessarabia]]n town of [[Floreşti, Moldova|Floreşti]] to [[Canada]] in 1919 and then with his wife Chaika Newman to [[New York City|New York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1989-12-05/news/26157213_1_yiddish-culture-yiddish-language-jewish-cultural-organization|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005031748/http://articles.philly.com/1989-12-05/news/26157213_1_yiddish-culture-yiddish-language-jewish-cultural-organization|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 5, 2013|title=Samuel Davidson; Led Yiddish Culture Revival|work=philly-archives}}</ref>

Perlmutter spent his childhood in the [[Mount Airy, Philadelphia|Mount Airy]] neighborhood of [[Philadelphia]]. He went to Quaker schools in nearby [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]]; first [[Greene Street Friends School]] for the elementary grades, followed by [[Germantown Friends School]] for grades seven through twelve.<ref>{{cite news |title=Astrophysicist with Philly roots awarded Nobel Prize |author=Tom Avril |url=http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-04/news/30242928_1_astrophysicist-adam-riess-elementary-grades |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009010821/http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-04/news/30242928_1_astrophysicist-adam-riess-elementary-grades |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 9, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |date=October 4, 2011 |access-date=October 11, 2011}}</ref> He graduated with an AB in physics from [[Harvard]] ''magna cum laude'' in 1981 and received his PhD in physics from [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] in 1986. Perlmutter's PhD thesis, entitled "An Astrometric Search for a Stellar Companion to the Sun" and supervised by [[Richard A. Muller]],<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Office of Scientific & Technical Information (OSTI) Technical Reports, University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, UNT Libraries Government Documents Department|title=An Astrometric Search for a Stellar Companion to the Sun|author=Saul Perlmutter|osti = 6484337|doi = 10.2172/6484337|year = 1986|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1207884/|bibcode=1986PhDT........20P|postscript=; also published at Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy website (osti.gov)}}</ref> described the development and use of an automated telescope to search for [[Nemesis (hypothetical star)|Nemesis]] candidates.<ref name="Goldhaber09"/> At the same time, he was using this telescope to search for Nemesis and [[supernova]]e, which would lead him to his award-winning work in cosmology.<ref name="SAprofile">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=discovering-a-dark-universe|magazine=[[Scientific American]]|title=Discovering a Dark Universe: A Q&A with Saul Perlmutter|author=David Appell|date=April 21, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116023019/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=discovering-a-dark-universe|archive-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> Perlmutter attributes the idea for an automated supernova search to [[Luis Walter Alvarez|Luis Alvarez]], a 1968 [[List of Nobel laureates in Physics|Nobel laureate]], who shared his idea with Perlmutter's research adviser.<ref name="SAprofile"/>

== Work ==
Perlmutter heads the [[Supernova Cosmology Project]] at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It was this team along with the competing [[High-z Supernova Search Team]] led by Riess and Schmidt, which found evidence of the [[accelerating universe|accelerating expansion of the universe]] based on observing [[Type Ia supernova]] in the distant universe. Type Ia supernova occurs whenever a [[white dwarf star]] gains enough additional mass to pass above the [[Chandrasekhar limit]], usually by stealing additional mass from a [[companion star]]. Since all Type Ia supernovae are believed to occur in essentially the same way, they form a [[standard candle]] whose intrinsic [[luminosity]] can be assumed to be approximately the same in all cases. By measuring the apparent luminosity of the explosion from Earth, researchers can then infer the distance to supernova. Comparing this inferred distance to the apparent [[redshift]] of the explosion allows the observer to measure both the distance and relative velocity of the supernova. [[File:Saul Perlmutter in 2024 at Berkeley Lab 02.jpg|thumb|Perlmutter in 2024]]

The Supernova Cosmology Project concluded that these distant supernovae were receding more quickly than would be expected due to the [[Hubble expansion]] alone, and, by inference, the expansion of the universe must have been accelerated over the billions of years since the supernovae occurred. The High-z Team also came to a similar conclusion. The two teams' reports were published within weeks of each other, and their conclusions were readily accepted by the scientific community due to corroborating theories.<ref name="bbc nobel">{{cite web|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371|title = Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find|first =Jason|last = Palmer |date = 2011-10-04|access-date = 2011-10-05|publisher = [[BBC]] }}</ref> This conclusion has subsequently been supported by other lines of evidence. These findings reinvigorated research into the nature of the universe, and especially into the role of [[dark energy]].<ref name="bbc nobel"/> For this work Perlmutter was awarded the [[2011 Nobel Prize in Physics]], shared jointly with Riess and Schmidt.<ref name="bbc nobel"/>

Perlmutter is a lead investigator in the [[Supernova/Acceleration Probe]] project, which aims to build a satellite dedicated to finding and studying more supernovae in the distant universe. The goal is to more precisely determine the rate at which the universe has been accelerating. He is also a participant in the [[Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature]] project, which aims to increase our understanding of recent [[global warming]] through improved analyses of climate data.

Perlmutter is a professor and currently teaches at UC Berkeley.

== Awards and recognition ==
[[Image:Shaw2006astro.jpg|thumb|250px|Perlmutter, [[Adam Riess]], and [[Brian P. Schmidt]] after being awarded the 2006 [[Shaw Prize]] in Astronomy - the same astronomers would be awarded the [[2011 Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 2011]]
[[File:Nobel Prize 2011-Nobel lectures KVA-DSC 7973.jpg|thumb|Perlmutter presenting his Nobel lecture at Aula Magna]]
In 2002, Perlmutter won the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]]'s [[E. O. Lawrence Award in Physics]]. In 2003, he was awarded the California Scientist of the Year Award, and, in 2005, he won the [[John Scott Award]] and the Padua Prize. In 2006, he shared the [[Shaw Prize]] in [[Astronomy]] with [[Adam Riess]] and [[Brian P. Schmidt]].<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371|title=Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find|work=[[BBC News]]|date=October 4, 2011}}</ref> The same year, Perlmutter won the [[Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize]].

Perlmutter and his team shared the 2007 [[Gruber Prize in Cosmology|Gruber Cosmology Prize]] (a $500,000 award) with Schmidt and the High-Z Team for discovering the accelerating expansion of the universe. In 2010, Perlmutter was named a Miller Senior Fellow of the [[Miller Institute]] at the [[University of California Berkeley]]. In 2011, Perlmutter and Riess were named co-recipients of the [[Albert Einstein Medal]].

Perlmutter shared the [[2011 Nobel Prize in Physics]] with Riess and Schmidt.<ref name="BBC" /> The Nobel Prize includes a [[Swedish krona|SEK]] 10 million cash award (approximately US$1.5 million). Perlmutter received one-half of the cash prize, while Riess and Schmidt shared the other half.<ref name="BBC"/>

In 2014, Perlmutter received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>

Perlmutter, Schmidt, Riess, and their teams shared the 2015 [[Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics]] with $3 million to be split among them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://breakthroughprize.org |title=Breakthrough Prize|work=breakthroughprize.org}}</ref>

A [[United States Department of Energy]] 2020 [[supercomputer]] is named [[Perlmutter (supercomputer)|Perlmutter]] in his honor.<ref name=moss>{{cite web|url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/news/lawrence-berkeley-install-perlmutter-supercomputer-featuring-crays-shasta-system/|title=Lawrence Berkeley to install Perlmutter supercomputer featuring Cray's Shasta system|publisher=Data Centre Dynamics| last=Moss | first=Sebastian|date=30 October 2018 |access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref>

== Family ==
Perlmutter is married to [[Laura Nelson (anthropologist)|Laura Nelson]], an anthropologist at [[University of California, Berkeley]], and they have one daughter, Noa.<ref name="Berkeley06">{{cite web|url=http://physics.berkeley.edu/index.php?option=com_dept_management&act=news&Itemid=419&task=view&id=78|title=Scientist Discovers The Genuine Dark Side|publisher=[[Contra Costa Times]]}}</ref> Perlmutter has two sisters: [[Shira Perlmutter]] (b. 1956), an attorney, law professor, and the fourteenth [[Register of Copyrights]], and [[Tova Perlmutter]] (b. 1967), a nonprofit executive. 

==Popular culture==

Reference to Saul Perlmutter was made on the CBS television comedy series ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' during the 2011 episodes "[[The Speckerman Recurrence]]" and "[[The Rhinitis Revelation]]". In these episodes, the lead character [[Sheldon Cooper]], who aspires to win a Nobel Prize himself, jealously berates Perlmutter and questions the decision to award Perlmutter a Nobel Prize.

== Technical reports and conference/event proceedings ==
* Perlmutter, S., ''et al.'' [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5838943-progress-report-berkeley-anglo-australian-observatory-high-redshift-supernova-search  "Progress Report on the Berkeley/Anglo-Australian Observatory High-redshift Supernova Search"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (November 1990).
* Perlmutter, S., ''et al.'' [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/29349-discovery-most-distant-supernovae-quest-omega "Discovery of the Most Distant Supernovae and the Quest for {Omega}"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (May 1994).
* Perlmutter, S., ''et al.'' [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/974166-discovery-supernova-explosion-half-age-universe-its-cosmological-implications  "Discovery of a Supernova Explosion at Half the Age of the Universe and its Cosmological Implications"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (December 16, 1997).
* Perlmutter, S., ''et al.'' [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/807402-distant-type-ia-supernova-rate  "The Distant Type Ia Supernova Rate"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (May 28, 2002).
* Perlmutter, S., ''et al.'' [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/876215-supernova-legacy-survey-measurement-omega_m-omega_lambda-from-first-year-data-set  "The Supernova Legacy Survey: Measurement of Omega_M, Omega_Lambda, and w from the First Year Data Set"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (October 14, 2005).
* Perlmutter, S. [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1032838-supernovae-dark-energy-accelerating-universe-how-doe-helped-win-yet-another-nobel-prize  "Supernovae, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe: How DOE Helped to Win (yet another) Nobel Prize"], [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]], (January 13, 2012).

== See also ==
* [[Cosmological constant]]
* [[Dark energy]]
* [[Dark matter]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Saul Perlmutter}}
*[http://supernova.lbl.gov/ Supernova Cosmology Project Website]
*[http://www.oarval.org/SCPen.htm Supernova Cosmology Project]
*[http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-Shaw-prize.html Shaw Prize Press Release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007014421/http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/Phys-Shaw-prize.html |date=2011-10-07 }}
*{{Nobelprize}}
*[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2011/press.html Nobel Prize in Physics Press Release]
*[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&adsobj_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=Perlmutter%2C+Saul&object=&start_mon=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=&nr_to_return=10000&start_nr=1&jou_pick=ALL&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=NDATE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1 List of scholarly publications] as provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) abstract server.

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{{Breakthrough Prize laureates}}
{{Shaw Prize}}
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{{2011 Nobel Prize winners}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perlmutter, Saul}}
[[Category:1959 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:21st-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:Albert Einstein Medal recipients]]
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:American astrophysicists]]
[[Category:American cosmologists]]
[[Category:American people of Moldovan-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Dark energy]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Germantown Friends School alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars]]
[[Category:Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory people]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty]]
[[Category:Jewish Nobel laureates]]