David Spergel's Home Page

Research Interests

I am a theoretical astrophysicist. My interests range from the search for planets around nearby stars to the shape of the universe.

Over the last few years, the WMAP Satellite has been the main focus of my research. WMAP was successfully launched on June 30, 2001. The results from WMAP are described in a series of papers. The WMAP 2003 paper is currently the 4th most cited paper in the entire SPIRES catalog . Every year from 2003-2006, WMAP papers were the #1 and #2 most cited papers in the SPIRES data base. In 2007 and 2008, we were #1 and #3. (WMAP papers were also #5 and #12)

See this interview for a brief description of the WMAP results and see Mike Lemonick's book for the story of the WMAP satellite. My next major CMB project is the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and supporting observations through the Southern Cosmology Surveys, an international collaboration.

I am part of a group of scientists and engineers at Princeton University who are developing new technologies that should hopefully enable the direct imaging of earth-like planets.

I am part of the new Princeton Center for Theoretical Science. In 2008/9, we had a focused program on "Big Bang and Beyond". I am also part of the new Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU)

Here are links to a list of my recent and most-cited papers.

Contact Information

Room 113, Peyton Hall, Princeton, NJ, 08544
Phone: (609) 258 3589
Fax: (609) 258 8226
email: dns at astro DOT princeton DOT edu
I have returned on sabbatical in Paris.

Teaching

During Fall 2008, I taught a new class on Astronomical Methods, AST 303 Paul Steinhardt and I will cotaught a course "Topics in Contemporary Cosmology" (PHY 564/AST 524) connected to the Big bang and Beyond PCTP serminar. During 2009/10, I will teach AST 401: Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology.

Administration

I am serving as Chair of the Department and am the Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation. I am an Associate Faculty Member in the Physica and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. My CV and Bibliography