R. Michael Rich | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1957 (age 67–68) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Education | Pomona College(BA) California Institute of Technology(PhD) |
| Spouse | Susan Rich |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Dudley Observatory Career Development Award(1988) Alfred P. Sloan Fellow(1991-1993) NASA Group Achievement Award(2004) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Institutions | Carnegie Institution Columbia University University of California, Los Angeles |
| Thesis | Abundance and kinematics of K giants in the Galactic nuclear bulge (1986) |
| Doctoral advisor | Jeremy R. Mould |
| Doctoral students | Neil deGrasse Tyson |
Robert Michael Rich (born 1957) is an Americanastrophysicist. He obtained hisB.A. atPomona College in 1979 and earned hisPh.D. from theCalifornia Institute of Technology in 1986 under thesis supervisorJeremy Mould. He was a Carnegie Fellow atCarnegie/DTM until 1988, when he became an assistant professor of astronomy atColumbia University; during this period, he was thedoctoral advisor toNeil deGrasse Tyson.[1] After two years (1996-1998) as a senior research scientist at Columbia, he joined theUniversity of California, Los Angeles as a research astronomer in 1998. As of 2024, he remains affiliated with UCLA as a researcher emeritus/adjunct professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics.
Rich is known for his work on the Galacticbulge, including the first measurement of the distribution of stellar abundances[2] and the first map of the bulgestellar kinematics.[3] He also led the team (HST-GO-9099) that discovered the first, and as yet the only confirmed,intermediate mass black hole in theGlobular cluster, G1 in M31.[4] Rich has over 450 refereed publications, including 10 articles in the journal Nature and over 100 invited talks at international science meetings. Rich was a member of theGalex science team and is a member of theCOSMOS survey team and theLSST project (Milky Way and Local Volume Collaboration). Rich is also a member of the executive committee of the UCLA Faculty Center Board of Governors,[5] and theAmerican Astronomical Society andInternational Astronomical Union.[6]
Rich pioneered the modern study of the central bulge/bar stellar population of theMilky Way galaxy, obtaining the firstspectroscopy and metal abundances[7] for stars in the Galactic bulge, showing an average metal content similar to that of the Sun and an abundance distribution following the "simple" closed box model of chemical evolution; this required the central bulge of the Milky Way to form early and rapidly.[8] In collaboration with Andrew McWilliam, Rich found that light or "alpha capture" elements are enhanced in the bulge, consistent with the bulge having formed and built its metals in less than 1 billion years;[9] in collaboration with Andrew McWilliam and Jon Fulbright he used theKeck telescope to obtain high precision abundances of many elements in the bulge, confirming the evidence for early, rapid formation.[10] No large-scale survey had ever been undertaken to study thestellar kinematics of the Galactic bulge before the Bulge Radial Velocity Assay (BRAVA; 31), showing that the stellar kinematics of the bulge is dominated in mass by a bar structure that is proposed to have formed from the buckling of a primordial disk.[11]
In collaboration with Livia Origlia from 2002 to 2018, Rich used theNIRSpec infrared spectrograph onKeck II to obtain high resolution spectra of stars in the Galactic bulge and its globular clusters in a series of 30 papers, overcoming the generally high interstellar extinction in that direction. This work also showed that the globular cluster-like stellar systemTerzan 5 has a complex internal spread in iron abundance and chemistry.[12] The ultimate spectral resolution selected for theAPOGEE survey matched that of these early studies. Rich also led teams working on infrared spectroscopy of the Galactic bulge[13] and the nuclear star cluster, finding roughly normal Solar scaled abundances for red giants with 4 pc of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sgr A*[14] and disproving claims of extraordinary abundances of Sc, V, and Y in red giants[15][16][17] near Sgr A*
Rich obtained the firstHubble Space Telescope image andcolor-magnitude diagram for the massive M31 globular cluster G1=Mayall II[18] discovered the first case of an extreme blue horizontal branch population in metal rich globular clusters (NGC 6388 and 6441).[19] Rich also discovered the first known case of aluminous red novae variable, the star RV in the bulge of M31.[20]
Rich received aDudley Observatory Career Development Award (1988),was anAlfred P. Sloan Fellow[21] from 1991 to 1993, and received theNASA Group Achievement Award (2004) for his work on the science team (2003-2013) of theGalaxy Evolution Explorer Satellite. In 2012, Rich was recognized with a Certificate of Appreciation from theLA Conservancy, for saving the UCLA Faculty Center building.
Rich was also a member of the ad hoc science working group for the Next Generation Space Telescope, which became theJames Webb Space Telescope. Rich contributed a Review chapter on the Galactic Bulge for Stars, Planets, and Stellar Systems. Volume 5[22]
Neil deGrasse Tyson (Ph.D)
HongSheng Zhao (Ph.D); FacultyUniversity of St. Andrews
Edgar O. Smith (Ph.D); Chair ofPrinceton Astrophysics Visiting Committee, and builder of Calypso telescope that is now thespectroscopic monitor telescope of LSST
Christian D. Howard (Ph.D)
In 2010,UCLA announced its plans to demolish the UCLA Faculty Center[23] and to replace it with a conference center and hotel. Rich was one of the principle organizers of the Ad hoc Committee to save the faculty center, rallying faculty and community opinion to preserve the 1959 mid-Century structure that was inspired byEdward Fickett with Austin, Field, and Fry as the supervising architects.[24] Rich assisted in the discovery and identification of an important 10 foot long wooden carved wall by Panelcarve, designed noted mid-century artistsJerome and Evelyn Ackerman. The conference center was built elsewhere on campus and the Faculty Center will undergo renovation.
Rich also opposed the sale of theHannah Carter Japanese Garden[25] as well as the removal of artifacts, which had been gifted in perpetuity to UCLA by the spouse ofEdward Carter, who was the chair ofUC Regents.
