Research interests:   Observations of supernovae for themselves and for cosmology using HST, Magellan, MMT, and the Whipple Observatory.  Use of rest frame infrared observations for Type Ia supernovae to improve measurements of dark energy properties.  Ongoing Hubble Space Telescope study of SN 1987A, the brightest since 1604!

Professor Kirshner graduated from Harvard College in 1970 and received a Ph.D. in Astronomy at Caltech.  He was a postdoc at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, and was on the faculty at the University of Michigan for 9 years.  In 1986, he moved to the Harvard Astronomy Department. He served as Chairman of the Department from 1990-1997 and as the head of the Optical and Infrared Division of the CfA from 1997-2003.  He was Master of Quincy House, one of Harvard’s undergraduate residences, from 2001-2007. 

Kirshner_CV_.pdf