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Theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist Matias Zaldarriaga will join the Faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study, effective July 1. He comes to the Institute’s School of Natural Sciences from Harvard University, where he is currently a professor in the departments of astronomy and physics. He succeeds astrophysicist Peter Goldreich, who joined the Faculty in 2004 and who will retire on June 30. Much of Mr. Zaldarriaga’s work centers on the recent discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, rather than decelerating as would be expected if gravity were the dominant long-range force. He first became known for the development of an extremely fast numerical technique for calculating the properties of small fluctuations in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that probe the properties of the early universe. Dr. Zaldarriaga is the recipient of a 2006 MacArthur Fellowship. In 2005, he was awarded the Gribov Medal, which is presented every two years by the European Physical Society to recognize a young physicist for outstanding work performed in the field of theoretical particle physics and/or field theory. The American Astronomical Society awarded him its 2003 Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy, and he received a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in 2001 and a Hubble Fellowship in 1998.

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