Jerry Ostriker | |
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| Born | Jeremiah Paul Ostriker (1937-04-13)April 13, 1937 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | April 6, 2025(2025-04-06) (aged 87) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
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| Scientific career | |
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| Doctoral advisor | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar[2] |
| Doctoral students | Edmund Bertschinger Ue-Li Pen Scott Tremaine Ellen Zweibel |
Jeremiah Paul Ostriker (/ˌoʊˈstraɪkər/oh-STRY-kər;[3] April 13, 1937 – April 6, 2025) was an Americanastrophysicist and a professor ofastronomy atColumbia University[4][5] and a Charles A. Young ProfessorEmeritus at Princeton, where he also served as a senior research scholar.[6] Ostriker also served as auniversity administrator asProvost ofPrinceton University.
Ostriker was born on theUpper West Side ofManhattan to Martin Ostriker, the proprietor of a clothing company, and Jeanne (Sumpf) Ostriker, a public school teacher.[7] He had three siblings. Ostriker became interested in science at a young age, and he later recounted teaching himself difficult subjects, including calculus, writing: "I felt that I learned better on my own than through school".[8] He received his B.A. fromHarvard and his Ph.D from theUniversity of Chicago.
After earning his Ph.D. at Chicago, he conducted post-doctoral work at theUniversity of Cambridge. From 1971 to 1995, Ostriker was a professor atPrinceton, and served as Provost there from 1995 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he was appointedPlumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at theInstitute of Astronomy, Cambridge. He then returned to Princeton as the Charles Young Professor of Astronomy and later served as the Charles A. Young ProfessorEmeritus.[9] He became a professor of astronomy at Columbia in 2012.
Ostriker was very influential in advancing the theory that most of themass in theuniverse is not visible at all, but consists ofdark matter.[10][11] His research also focused on theinterstellar medium,galaxy evolution,cosmology andblack holes. On June 20, 2013 Ostriker was given the White House Champions of Change Award for his role in initiating theSloan Digital Sky Survey project, which makes all of its astronomical data sets available publicly on the Internet.[12]
Ostriker was also known for theOstriker–Peebles criterion, relating to the stability of galactic formation.[13]
Ostriker married noted poet and essayistAlicia Ostriker (née Suskin) in 1958, and they had three children: Rebecca[1],Eve, and Gabriel.[7][9] Like her father, Eve became an astrophysics professor at Princeton University, in 2012, the same year as her father's retirement.[8] Jeremiah and Alicia Ostriker were residents ofPrinceton, New Jersey.[14]
Ostriker died of renal disease in Manhattan, on April 6, 2025, at the age of 87.[7]
As of April 2021, Ostriker's articles have been cited over 85,910 times and he has anh-index of 130 (130 papers with at least 130 citations) according to theNASA Astrophysics Data System including:
Ostriker won numerous awards and honors including:
