Edmund W. Bertschinger

Biography

Professor Bertschinger received his BS in physics from Caltech in 1979 and his PhD in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University in 1984. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Virginia and at UC Berkeley, he joined the MIT faculty in 1986. From 2002-2007 he served as Astrophysics Division Head before becoming Physics Department Head. He is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and Helen B. Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society.

Research Interest

"Ed Bertschinger is Professor of Physics at MIT. He is a theoretical astrophysicist whose work focuses on cosmology, gravitation, and relativistic astrophysics. As a member of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, he leads a research program studying dark energy and dark matter. He and his research students (from high school to postdoctoral) investigate the formation of cosmic structure after the big bang, the physics of dark matter both in the early universe and in forming galaxies, the physics of gravitation in general relativity and alternative theories, and the physical processes governing matter and radiation close to black holes. His group uses a combination of analytical, computational, and statistical methods. Professor Bertschinger is passionate about education. He enjoys teaching a wide range of undergraduate and graduate classes in general physics, relativity and cosmology. In 2002, he received the Physics Department’s Buechner Teaching Prize for his undergraduate and graduate classes in general relativity. He also loves mentoring research students. His students at the high school and undergraduate level have won national prizes for their work, including First Prize in the Intel Science Talent Search. His former PhD students have been appointed to the faculties of Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Columbia, the Institute for Advanced Study, and other fine organizations."