Schmidt, an only child, was born inMissoula, Montana, where his father Dana C. Schmidt was a fisheries biologist. When he was 13, his family relocated toAnchorage, Alaska.[10][11]
Schmidt attendedBartlett High School in Anchorage,Alaska, and graduated in 1985. He has said that he wanted to be a meteorologist "since I was about five-years-old [but] ... I did some work at the USANational Weather Service up in Anchorage and didn't enjoy it very much. It was less scientific, not as exciting as I thought it would be—there was a lot of routine. But I guess I was just a little naive about what being a meteorologist meant." His decision to study astronomy, which he had seen as "a minor pastime", was made just before he enrolled at university.[12] Even then, he was not fully committed: he said "I'll do astronomy and change into something else later", and just never made that change.[13]
While at Harvard, he met his future wife, the Australian (Jenny) Jennifer M. Gordon who was a PhD student in economics. In 1994, they moved to Australia.[10][14]
In 1994, Schmidt andNicholas B. Suntzeff formed theHigh-Z Supernova Search Team to measure the expected deceleration of the universe and thedeceleration parameter (q0) using distances toType Ia supernovae. In 1995, the HZT at a meeting at theCenter for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian elected Schmidt as the overall leader of the HZT. Schmidt led the team from Australia and in 1998 in the HZT paper with first authorAdam Riess the first evidence was presented that the universe's expansion rate is not decelerating; it is accelerating.[18] The team's observations were contrary to the then-current models, which predicted that the expansion of the universe should be slowing down, and when the preliminary results emerged Schmidt assumed it was an error and he spent the next six weeks trying to find the mistake.[19] But there was no mistake: contrary to expectations, by monitoring the brightness and measuring theredshift of thesupernovae, they discovered that these billion-year old exploding stars and their galaxies were accelerating away from our reference frame.[20] This result was also found nearly simultaneously by theSupernova Cosmology Project, led bySaul Perlmutter.[20] The corroborating evidence between the two competing studies led to the acceptance of theaccelerating universe theory and initiated new research to understand the nature of the universe, such as the existence ofdark energy.[20] The discovery of the accelerating universe was named 'Breakthrough of the Year' byScience in 1998, and Schmidt was jointly awarded the2011 Nobel Prize in Physics along with Riess and Perlmutter for their groundbreaking work.[20]
Schmidt is currently leading theSkyMapper telescope Project and the associated Southern Sky Survey, which will encompass billions of individual objects, enabling the team to pick out the most unusual objects. In 2014 they announced the discovery of the first star which did not contain any iron, indicating that it is a very primitive star, probably formed during the first rush of star formation following the Big Bang.[21]
On 24 June 2015 it was announced Schmidt would replaceIan Young as the 12thVice-Chancellor of theAustralian National University, to commence his tenure on 1 January 2016.[26] TheChancellor of the ANU, ProfessorGareth Evans, said, "Brian Schmidt is superbly placed to deliver on the ambition of ANU founders – to permanently secure our position among the great universities of the world, and as a crucial contributor to the nation ... We had a stellar field of international and Australian candidates, and have chosen an inspirational leader. ... Brian's vision, vitality, global stature and communication skills are going to take our national university to places it has never been before."[7] On 2 February 2023, Schmidt announced that he would be stepping down as vice chancellor at the end of the year.[8][9]
The publicity that came with winning the Nobel Prize has given Schmidt the opportunity to help the public understand why science is important to society, and to champion associated causes.[19][21]
Public education
One of his first acts after winning the Nobel Prize was to donate $100,000 out of his prize money to the PrimaryConnections program, an initiative of theAustralian Academy of Science that assists primary school teachers.[27][28] He has continued to press for improvements to the public school system, particularly in the sciences and mathematical literacy (numeracy).[29] He sees the major problem is that so few of the teachers are trained in "STEM" (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines.[21] He used the opportunity of delivering a speech at theNational Press Club to call for more focus on the public education system, including holding principals more accountable and the proper use of standardised testing, concluding with the warning that otherwise "the fundamental tenet of Australian democracy, that we all deserve a fair go, is at risk of being eroded away along with our public school system."[30] At the other end of the spectrum, he also raises the profile of the matter by visiting primary schools personally to answer children's questions.[31]
Funding for scientific and medical research
Schmidt is a strong supporter of funding scientific and medical research on a long-term, non-partisan basis driven by a national research strategy.[32] He has often voiced his concern that the current year-to-year uncertainty and lack of co-ordination make it difficult to establish and staff large facilities, or to participate in multi-national ventures, and that scientists spend too much time applying for funding instead of doing research.[33][34] Interviewed by theAustralian Financial Review, Schmidt was characteristically forthright: "It's unclear to me whether or not we will continue to be a great astronomy nation... If we're damaged it will take 20 years to fix ourselves. It only takes one year to cause 20 years of damage."[35]
Climate change
He urges people to pay attention to the consensus of expert opinions, instead of basing their conclusions on the incomplete information which they personally know. Launching theAustralian Academy of Science's report "The science of climate change: questions and answers", Schmidt commented that "Whenever this subject comes up, it never ceases to amaze me how each person I meet suddenly becomes an expert... More surprising is the supreme confidence that non-experts (scientists and non-scientists alike) have in their own understanding of the subject."[36] In 2014 he put up $10,000 of his own money in a bet withMaurice Newman, chairman of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Council from 2013 to 2015, that global temperatures will rise.[37] In 2015, he presented theMainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change on the final day of the 65thLindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, which was signed by 76 Nobel Laureates and handed to then President of the French Republic,François Hollande, as part of the successfulCOP21 climate summit in Paris.[38]
Schmidt and the other members of the High-Z Team (the set defined by the co-authors of Riess et al. 1998) shared the 2007Gruber Cosmology Prize, a $500,000 award, with Saul Perlmutter of theLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Supernova Cosmology Project (the set defined by the co-authors of Perlmutter et al. 1999) for their discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe.
Schmidt, along with Riess and Perlmutter, jointly won the2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for their observations which led to the discovery of the accelerating universe.[40][44]
Brian Schmidt is an internationally renowned researcher in cosmology and also in the physics of supernovae and gamma ray bursts. In particular, Schmidt's formation and leadership of the High-z Supernova Search Team led to the discovery that the expansion of our universe is accelerating, for which he shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. This discovery completely changed our understanding of the universe. It showed that about 70% of the mass of our Universe is in a previously unknown form which is now usually referred to as 'Dark Energy'.[2]
Schmidt is married to Jennifer Gordon. They met while they were both studying for their PhDs at Harvard – he in astrophysics and she in economics. They decided to settle in Australia, which he had already visited on several occasions to visit family. He now holds dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.[13]
He is not religious, being described as a "militant agnostic" with his tagline, "I don't know, and neither do you!"[49]
Schmidt and his wife own and operate Maipenrai Vineyard and Winery, a small winery established in 2000 inSutton, near Canberra. The vineyard covers 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres), producing exclusively pinot noir grapes, and the wines have received favourable reviews.[50][51] Schmidt has quipped that "it's easier to sell your wine when you have a Nobel prize".[52] At the 2011 Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Stockholm, he presented the KingCarl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with a bottle of wine from his winery.[citation needed]
In 2013, Schmidt was appointed to join the board of the federal government'sAustralian Wine Research Institute. The Institute's chairman Peter Dawson commented that Schmidt brings to the board "a unique combination of scientific excellence, wine industry knowledge and relevant board experience".[53]
^ab"Profile: Brian Schmidt".astrogeo.oxfordjournals.org. Oxford University Press. Archived fromthe original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved25 November 2015.
^Robertson, James (18 June 2013)."Scientists desperately seeking certainty".The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved28 March 2015.many of the country's science and medical research sectors... could not plan their future direction because of stop-start funding and a poorly co-ordinated approach to research.
^"Brian P. Schmidt – Facts". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved13 March 2015.for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae
^"Extract for SCHMIDT, Brian Paul".It's an Honour: Australia celebrating Australians. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved6 January 2015.For eminent service as a global science leader in the field of physics through research in the study of astronomy and astrophysics, contributions to scientific bodies and the promotion of science education.
