Fred C. Adams (born 1961) is an American astrophysicist who has made contributions to the study of

physical cosmology Physical cosmology is a branch of cosmology concerned with the study of cosmological models. A cosmological model, or simply cosmology, provides a description of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and allows study of fu ...

. Fred Adams is the Ta-You Wu Collegiate Professor of Physics at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, where his main field of research is

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

theory focusing on star formation, planet formation, and dynamics. His seminal work on the radiative signature of star formation has provided a foundation for further studies in

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...

. In more recent years, he has studied the formation and evolution of planetary systems, including the effect of the stellar birth cluster environment.

Biography

Adams attended

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

, earning a B.S. in 1983. He then earned his Ph.D. from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1988. He continued his research at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian from 1988 to 1991, before joining the faculty at the

in 1991. Since 1991, Adams has been a professor of physics at the University of Michigan, earning the Excellence in Education Award from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in 1995 and 1999 and the Faculty Recognition Award in 2002. Adams works in the general area of theoretical

with a focus on the study of

and cosmology. He is internationally recognized for his work on the radiation signature of the star formation process, the dynamics of

circumstellar disk A Circumstellar disc (or circumstellar disk) is a torus, pancake or ring-shaped accretion disk of matter composed of gas, dust, planetesimals, asteroids, or collision fragments in orbit around a star. Around the youngest stars, they are the res ...

s, and the physics of

molecular cloud A molecular cloud—sometimes called a stellar nursery if star formation is occurring within—is a type of interstellar cloud of which the density and size permit absorption nebulae, the formation of molecules (most commonly molecular hydrogen, ...

s. He has received recognition as an astrophysicist including the Robert J. Trumpler Award and the Helen B. Warner Prize. His recent work in star formation includes the development of a theory for the

initial mass function In astronomy, the initial mass function (IMF) is an empirical function that describes the initial distribution of masses for a population of stars during star formation. IMF not only describes the formation and evolution of individual stars, it a ...

for forming stars and studies of extra-solar planetary systems. In cosmology, he has studied many aspects of the inflationary universe, cosmological phase transitions,

magnetic monopoles In particle physics, a magnetic monopole is a hypothetical particle that is an isolated magnet with only one magnetic pole (a north pole without a south pole or vice versa). A magnetic monopole would have a net north or south "magnetic charge". ...

, cosmic rays, anti-matter, the cosmic background radiation, galactic halos of dark matter, and the long-term future of the universe. He has also studied the dynamics of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

and of extrasolar planets, and has discovered 24 exoplanets and 8 Kuiper Belt Objects. He is the co-author of the 1999 book '' The Five Ages of the Universe'' with Greg Laughlin.

Selected publications

Adams has published more than 200 papers and conference proceedings. His work has been cited thousands of times by other researchers, and a list of his most famous results and books is included below: * ''Proton Decay, Black Holes, and Large Extra Dimensions'', (F. C. Adams, G. L. Kane, M. Mbonye, and M. J. Perry), International Journal of Modern Physics A 16, 2399–2410 hep-ph/0009154 (2001). * ''Modes of Multiple Star Formation'', (F. C. Adams and P. C. Myers), The Astrophysical Journal 553 744-753 astro-ph/0102039 (2001). A Theoretical Model for the Mbh— ó Relation for Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies, (F. C. Adams, D. S. Graff, and D. O. Richstone), The Astrophysical Journal Letters 551, L31-35 astro-ph/0010549 (2001). * S''tability and Chaos in the Upsilon Andromedae Planetary System'', (G. Laughlin and F. C. Adams), The Astrophysical Journal 526, 881-889 (1999). * ''A Dying Universe: The Long Term Fate and Evolution of Astrophysical Objects'', (F. C. Adams and G. Laughlin), Reviews of Modern Physics 69, 337-372 (1997). * ''A Theory of the Initial Mass Function for Star Farmation in Molecular Clouds'', (F. C. Adams and M. Fatuzzo), The Astrophysical Journal 464, 256-271 (1996). * ''Vortices in Circumstellar Disks'', (F. C. Adams and R. Watkins), The Astrophysical Journal 451, 314-327 (1995). * ''Spectral Evolution of Young Stellar Objects'', (F. C. Adams, C. J. Lada, and F. H. Shu), The Astrophysical Journal 312, 788-806 (1987). * '' The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity'', (F. Adams and G. Laughlin), New York: The Free Press 256 pages, (1999). * ''Origins of Existence: How Life Emerged in the Universe'', (F. Adams), New York: The Free Press 256 pages, (2002). *Fred Adams, (1997). ''The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity'', Free Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Fred 1961 births Living people 21st-century American astronomers 21st-century American physicists Iowa State University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Michigan faculty Harvard University people