Adam S. Burrows
Princeton University
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Primary Section: 12, Astronomy Secondary Section: 13, Physics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2015)
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Biosketch
Adam Burrows is a Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and is the Director of the Princeton Planets and Life Certificate Program. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics from Princeton and his PhD in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is known particularly for his pioneering work in the theories of brown dwarfs, exoplanets, and supernovae. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a former Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. He is a past Chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) of the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies; was the BPA Liaison to the 2010 Decadal Survey of Astronomy; and has been a consultant for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He has served on the Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA) of the NRC; on the NRC Rare Isotope Science Assessment Committee; on the Subcommittee on the Implementation of the DOE Long-Range Plan for Nuclear Physics; as the Chair of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) Advisory Board; as the co-Chair of NASA's Universe Subcommittee; as the Chair of NASA's Origins Subcommittee; as a co-Chair of NASA's Strategic Roadmapping Committee "Search for Earth-like Planets"; as a co-Chair of NASA's Origins/SEUS Roadmapping committee; and as a primary author of NASA 2003 Origins Roadmap.
Research Interests
Adam Burrows' major research interests include the theories of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and supernovae. In the realms of exoplanets and brown dwarfs, his major focus is on their evolution, spectroscopy, and atmospheres, with particular emphasis on understanding their structures, chemistry, and spectral signatures in aid of the numerous international campaigns of discovery and characterization. He was one of the first exoplanet theorists in the world, having explored the properties of giant exoplanets in advance of their first detection in 1995. In the general realm of supernovae, he investigates the theories of their explosions and the associated computational, neutrino, and gravitational-wave astrophysics, along with their X-ray and $\gamma$-ray signatures. Much of his supernova research is also in support of ongoing efforts to understand the origins of neutron stars, pulsars, and stellar-mass black holes, as well as the elements of Nature. In the subjects of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and supernovae, he has written numerous influential papers and reviews, has collaborated with more than 300 co-authors on more than 350 research papers, and has given more than 300 invited talks and colloquia.
