Nick Kaiser
Nick Kaiser at the 2019 Gruber Prize ceremony
Born(1954-09-15)15 September 1954
Sheffield, England
Died13 June 2023(2023-06-13) (aged 68)
Paris, France
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (PhD)
University of Leeds (BSc)
AwardsFellow of the Royal Society (2008)
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2017)
Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2019)
Scientific career
InstitutionsÉcole Normale Supérieure
University of Hawaiʻi
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
ThesisAnisotropy of the microwave background radiation (1982)
Doctoral advisorMartin Rees
Doctoral studentsShaun Cole

Nicholas Kaiser FRS (15 September 1954 – 13 June 2023) was a British cosmologist.[1][2][3][4]

Life and career

Kaiser received his Bachelor's in physics at Leeds University in 1978, and his Part III in maths at University of Cambridge in 1979.[1] He obtained his PhD in astronomy, also at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Martin Rees.[5]

After postdoctoral positions at University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Sussex, and University of Cambridge, Kaiser was Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics Professor at the University of Toronto (1988–1997). In 1998 he moved to become Professor at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaiʻi.[6] From 2017 to 2022 he was Professor at École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Kaiser was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2008.[4]

Kaiser died of heart failure on 13 June 2023, at the age of 68.[4][7][8][9]

Works

Kaiser made major contributions to cosmology:

  • He made the first calculation of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (Kaiser 1983);[10]
  • Explained the higher bias of cluster galaxies relative to the matter field (Kaiser 1984);[5]
  • Made a detailed calculation of the statistics of density peaks in the primordial Universe (Bardeen, Bond, Kaiser & Szalay 1986);
  • Introduced the mathematics of redshift-space distortions (Kaiser 1987);[11]
  • Computed the cosmic halo mass function using excursion set theory (Bond, Cole, Efstathiou & Kaiser 1991);
  • First explained the departures of galaxy cluster scaling relations from simple self-similar models (Kaiser 1991); and
  • Performed the first inversion of shear maps from weak gravitational lensing (Kaiser & Squires 1993).[12]

Kaiser wrote articles on details of cosmological distance measures.

Kaiser was the initiator and Principal Investigator of the PanSTARRS imaging survey of most of the sky.[13]

Awards and honors

Kaiser won numerous awards and honors including:

References

  1. 1 2 "IfA CV" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "16193 Nickaiser (2000 AV207)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  3. ↑ https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2023/06/19/in-memoriam-nick-kaiser/
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nicholas Kaiser, Royal Society". Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Physics in Canada" (PDF). November 1993. p. 25. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Johnstone, D.; J. Dubinski (1999). "University of Toronto, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8. Annual report 1997. 1999BAAS...31..570J. page 570". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 31 (1): 570. Bibcode:1999BAAS...31..570J. Retrieved 16 March 2018 – via Harvard University.
  7. ↑ "The Laboratory Is Saddened At The Passing Of Nick Kaiser (1954–2023)". Laboratoire Astroparticule & Cosmologie. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "R.I.P. Nick Kaiser (1954-2023)". In the Dark. 14 June 2023.
  9. ↑ Peacock, John (10 August 2023). "Nick Kaiser obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  10. ↑ "Nick Kaiser awarded Royal Astronomical Society's highest honor – University of Hawaiʻi System News". Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Maurogordato, S. (1995). Clustering in the Universe: Proceedings of the XXXth Rencontres de Moriond, Les Arcs, Savoie, France, March 11–18, 1995. Atlantica Séguier Frontières. p. 145. ISBN 9782863321898. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "Nicholas Kaiser – CIFAR". Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "Institute of Advanced Study : Professor Nicholas Kaiser – Durham University". Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 "CBP CV" (PDF). Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  16. ↑ "ras.org.uk, Winners of the 2017 awards, medals and prizes – full details". Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "2018 Gruber Cosmology Prize Citation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
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