Education
Goldreich received a bachelor of science in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1960, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from Cornell in 1963 under the supervision of Thomas Gold.
Goldreich received a bachelor of science in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1960, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy from Cornell in 1963 under the supervision of Thomas Gold.
He is currently the Lee DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics at California Institute of Technology. Since 2005 he has also been a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Asteroid 3805 Goldreich is named after him.
In 1963 and 1964 Goldreich was a postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University.
From 1964 to 1966 he was an Assistant Professor of Astronomy & Geophysics at University of California, Los Los Angeles Goldreich joined the faculty at Caltech in 1966 as an associate professor He later became a full professor in 1969 while remaining at Caltech, and in 1981 he became the Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics & Planetary Physics also at Caltech.
Goldreich and Alar Toomre first described the process of polar wander in a 1969 paper, although evidence of paleomagnetism was not discovered until later. Goldreich collaborated with George Abell to conclude that planetary nebulae evolved from red giant stars, a view that is now widely accepted.
In 1979 Goldreich, along with Scott Tremaine predicted that Saturn"s F ring was maintained by shepherd moons, a prediction that would be confirmed by observations in 1980.
They also predicted that Uranus" rings were held in place by similar shepherd moons, a prediction that was confirmed in 1986. Goldreich, along with Tremaine predicted planetary migration in 1980, which would later be invoked to explain hot jupiters.
Woodrow Wilson Honorary Fellowship, 1960-1961 Andrew Dixon White Fellowship, 1960-1961 National Foundation Fellowship, 1961-1963 National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1963-1964 Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1968-1970 Elected to National Academy of Sciences, 1972 Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1973 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society, 1979 California Scientist of the Year, 1981 Chapman Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1985 Brouwer Award of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society, 1986 Amos de Shalit Lecturer at the Weizmann Institute, 1986 Thomas Gold Lecturer at Cornell University, 1987 Regents Fellow, Smithsonian Institution, 1988-1990 Miller Professorship, University of California, Berkeley, 1990 Gerard P. Kuiper Prize of the Division for Planetary Science, American Astronomical Society, 1992 Morris Loeb Lecturer, Harvard University, 1992 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1993 Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 2004 Shaw Prize, 2007 In 1995, Goldreich received the National Medal of Science for "his profound and lasting contributions to planetary sciences and astrophysics, providing fundamental theoretical insights for understanding the rotation of planets, the dynamics of planetary rings, pulsars, astrophysical masers, the spiral arms of galaxies, and the oscillations of the Sun". Goldreich was awarded the Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Science in 2006 for his numerous contributions in the field of Astrophysics. Goldreich received the 2007 Shaw Prize in Astronomy "in recognition of his lifetime achievements in theoretical astrophysics and planetary sciences".
Royal Society; National Academy of Sciences]
Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 2004.
