Wendy Freedman

Dr. Wendy Freedman is an astronomer and the Crawford H. Greenewalt Director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California. She received a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Toronto. She received a Carnegie Fellowship at the Observatories in 1984, joined the permanent faculty in 1987, and was appointed Director in 2003. Dr. Freedman is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. In 2002 she was awarded the American Philosophical Society's prestigious Magellanic Prize. In 2009, she was co-awarded the Gruber Cosmology Prize, widely considered to be astronomy’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Toronto, and in 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Chicago. Science Leadership As a world leader in the fields of astronomy and cosmology, Dr. Wendy Freedman holds, or has held, many leadership positions. The Hubble Space Telescope Key Project Dr. Freedman was scientific leader for a team of thirty astronomers who carried out the Hubble Key Project to measure the current expansion rate of the Universe. At the start of this project in the mid-1980s, the age and size of the universe were not known to better than a factor of two, and age estimates for the universe ranged between 10 and 20 billion years. The final results for the Hubble Key Project were published in the Astrophysical Journal by Freedman et al. (2001), resolving this longstanding debate, with an age for the universe of 13.7 billion years and an uncertainty of 10%. The Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP) at High Redshift Freedman and Mark Phillips are co-PIs of the Carnegie Supernova Project. The CSP has used the 40-inch, 100-inch and Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas to study supernovae at both low and high redshifts with the goal of providing constraints on the nature of dark energy in the universe. Spitzer Large Exploration Program Freedman’s current research interests are directed at measuring both the current and past expansion rate of the universe, and in characterizing the nature of dark energy, which is causing the universe to speed up its expansion. She is the Principal Investigator of a new large program to use the Spitzer satellite to measure the Hubble constant to an accuracy of 3%. Freedman has also been a leader in the broader astronomical community. She served on the National Academy of Sciences 2001 Decadal Survey Committee, the committee charged with determining priorities for the astronomical community. Following the 2001 Decadal Survey, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium,Freedman served as co-chair of the National Academy of Sciences Research Council’s Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA) from 2001-2004. She served as chair of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (2008-2010), a committee that advises NASA, NSF and the Department of Energy on astronomy-related programs. Freedman has served the scientific community in many ways, including: Director of the Carnegie Observatories As Director of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science since 2003, Freedman oversees a staff of about 130 people, divided roughly equally between Pasadena, CA and the observatory in Chile. She is the tenth director in the 110-year history of the Carnegie Observatories. Leadership of the Giant Magellan Telescope Project The Giant Magellan Telescope Project is an international consortium building a 25-meter telescope in the Andes Mountains in Chile Freedman has served as Chair of the Board of Directors since its inception in 2003. The partnership includes members from a range of U.S. (private and state-funded) universities and institutions, and two international members. The Project has recently completed a series of technical reviews and has been recommended for a construction start in mid-2014. GMT is poised to be the first of the extremely large telescopes planned for this upcoming decade, with early science operations in 2021. Representing Science to the Public Freedman is a frequent public lecturer and spokesperson for science. She has given public lectures worldwide, including the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.; she also lectured with physicist Stephen Hawking to an audience of 10,000 people in Japan. In 2005, she was awarded the American Association of Physics Teachers Klopsteg Award for her speaking ability. She has appeared in numerous NOVA/PBS and other television documentaries including The Runaway Universe, The Journey to Palomar, and Closer to Truth, as well as European and Japanese television.