David Spergel
David Spergel speaks during a public meeting ofNASA's UAP independent study team on May 31, 2023.
Born	David Nathaniel Spergel[4] (1961-03-25)March 25, 1961 (age 64)
Alma mater	Princeton University Harvard University
Known for	Co-leading theWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe project
Awards	Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy Shaw Prize in Astronomy Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics
Institutions	Princeton University Flatiron Institute Simons Foundation
Thesis	The astrophysical implications of weakly interacting, massive particles (1985)
Doctoral advisor	William H. Press
Doctoral students	Arlie Petters Julianne Dalcanton Hiranya Peiris Shirley Ho[1] Blake Daniel Sherwin William Coulton[2] Katharine R. Long[3]

David Nathaniel Spergel is an Americantheoretical astrophysicist and theEmeritusCharles A. Young Professor ofAstronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation atPrinceton University. Since 2021, he has been the President of theSimons Foundation.^[5] He is known for his work on theWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project. In 2022, Spergel accepted the chair ofNASA's UAP independent study team.

Spergel was born to aJewish family^[6] inRochester,New York. His father, Martin Spergel, was also aphysicist and aprofessor atYork College,City University of New York; he died in 2021.^[7] His mother was a high school home-economics teacher.^[8] The junior Spergel attendedJohn Glenn High School inHuntington, New York.^[9] He has a brother and a sister.^[10] He considered his father, who had "a really satisfying career as a college teacher" a role model, especially the aspect of his father's work in mentoring students who were "first in their family" to attend college.^[8]

Spergel graduatedsumma cum laude with aBachelor of Arts (AB) fromPrinceton University in 1982,^[11] after completing a senior thesis onred giants under the supervision ofGillian R. Knapp.^[11][12] He then went to theUniversity of Oxford as a visiting scholar in 1983, where he studied withJames Binney.^[11] He obtained hisMaster of Arts (AM) in 1984 and hisPhD in 1985, both fromHarvard University.^[13]

At the invitation ofJohn N. Bahcall, Spergel joined theInstitute for Advanced Studies after hisPhD. He left and moved toPrinceton University in 1987 as anassistant professor.^[6][10][14] He was promoted toassociate professor in 1992 andfull professor in 1997. In 2007, he was appointed theCharles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation.^[11]

Spergel joined theFlatiron Institute in 2016 as the founding director of the Center for Computational Astrophysics.^[15] Citing the hesitance to hold onto 2 positions,^[6] he retired from Princeton University in 2019 at the age of 59, and has remained asemeritus professor since.^[16]

Spergel is a 2001MacArthur Fellow,^[13] and was a member of theNASA Advisory Council and chair of the Space Studies Board.^[17] He was theKeck Distinguished Visiting Professor at theInstitute for Advanced Study from 2000 to 2001.^[11]

Since 1994, Spergel is part of theWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project consortium.^[10][18] Currently, he is a member of theSimons Observatory,^[19] chairs the Science Definition Team of theNancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly known as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope),^[20] and sits on the Board of Trustees of theCarnegie Institution for Science (since 2022).^[21]

In 2022, Spergel was invited to leadNASA's UAP independent study team of sixteen members to provide guidance in better understanding "unidentified anomalous phenomena".^[22][23]

• Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy (1994)^[24]
• Member of theNational Academy of Sciences (2007)^[25]
• Shaw Prize in Astronomy (2010)^[26]
• Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012)^[4]
• 25 Most Influential Space Scientists,Time (2012)^[27]
• Nature's 10 (2014)^[28]
• Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (2015)^[29]
• NASAExceptional Public Service Medal (2017)^[30]
• Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2018)^[31]
• Legacy Fellow of theAmerican Astronomical Society (2020)^[32]
• NASAExceptional Public Service Medal (2022) (received the second time)^[17]
• American Philosophical Society (2022)^[33]
• Nikolaos Kylafis Lecturer (2024)[1]

• Goodman, Billy. (2002) "Big Days for the Big Bang".Princeton Alumni Weekly, p. 24.
• Current Biography Yearbook Vol. 66 (2005). H. W. Wilson Company. pp. 535–536.

• David Spergel at theMathematics Genealogy Project

• 1961 births
• Living people
• MacArthur Fellows
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• 21st-century American astronomers
• 20th-century American astronomers
• Fellows of the American Physical Society
• Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Harvard University alumni
• American Jews
• Princeton University alumni
• Winners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics
• Fellows of the American Astronomical Society

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