Faculty

Charles R. Alcock

Charles R. Alcock

Donald H. Menzel Professor of Astrophysics
Director of Undergraduate Studies

Research Interests:  The determination of the composition of cosmic dark matter, innovative surveys of the outer solar system, massive compact halo objects, comets and asteroids.

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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., MS 45
Cambridge, MA 02138
Office B-225
p: (617) 495-7387
Edo Berger

Edo Berger

Professor of Astronomy
Director of Graduate Studies

Research interests: The study of gamma-ray bursts, optical transients (mainly from the Pan-STARRS project), and magnetic fields in low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. He uses observations across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to γ-rays.

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Perkin Lab P-309
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS-19
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-7914
David Charbonneau Headshot

David Charbonneau

Fred Kavli Professor of Astrophysics

Research Interests: Detection and characterization of extrasolar planets, with the goal of studying inhabited worlds. In pursuit of this goal I also pursue novel ground-based and space-based instrumentation, and studies of stellar astrophysics.... Read more about David Charbonneau

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street MS-16
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: 617 496 6515
p: (617) 495-3752
Daniel Eisenstein

Daniel Eisenstein

Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Astronomy
Chair of the Department

Research Interests:  Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy with a mix of theoretical and observational methods; the development of the baryon acoustic oscillation method to measure the cosmic distance scale and study dark energy.... Read more about Daniel Eisenstein

Perkin Lab, P-326
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS-20
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-7530
Alyssa Goodman

Alyssa A Goodman

Robert Wheeler Willson Professor of Applied Astronomy
Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution

Research Interests: Goodman's work spans astrophysics, science education, data science,  data visualization, and prediction. Her...

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Office: Room 330
160 Concord Avenue
Mailing address:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS- 42
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-9278
Jonathan E. Grindlay

Jonathan E. Grindlay

Robert Treat Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy

Research Interests: High Energy Astrophysics: Studies of accretion onto compact objects (black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs). Development of detectors and telescopes for wide-field imaging surveys of black holes discovered in soft-to-hard  X-rays. Time Domain Astrophysics: X-ray/optical/IR studies of Transients and variability of black holes in binaries and galactic nuclei to probe extreme physics phenomena and constrain black hole populations. Days-to-Century optical variability studies of stars and quasars with DASCH and followup spectroscopy to constrain formation and evolution of black holes.... Read more about Jonathan E. Grindlay

Office B-420
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., MS-06
Cambridge, MA 02138
Fax: (617) 495-7356
p: (617) 495-7204
Lars Hernquist

Lars Hernquist

Mallinckrodt Professor of Astrophysics

Research Interests: Theoretical studies of dynamical processes in cosmology and galaxy formation/galaxy evolution. Numerical simulations of stellar dynamical and hydrodynamical systems. Investigations of the physics of compact objects, particularly neutron stars and the interplay between thermal and magnetic processes in strongly magnetized neutron stars.... Read more about Lars Hernquist

Perkin Lab, P-235
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., MS-51
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 496-4180
John M. Kovac

John M. Kovac

Professor of Astronomy and Physics

 

Research Interests: His cosmology research focuses on observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to reveal signatures of the physics that drove the birth of the universe, the creation of its structure, and its present-day expansion. His research over the past two decades has involved the design, deployment, and operation of multiple generations of radio telescopes at the Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole.... Read more about John M. Kovac

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS 42
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 496-0611