Joshua Simon Bloom (born June 8, 1974 in Washington, D.C.) is an American astrophysicist, chair and professor of
astronomy at the
University of California, Berkeley, and was the CTO and co-founder of the
machine-learning compan
wise.io(acquired
by
General Electric, 2016). He received a Bachelor of Arts in
astronomy and
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 said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...
and
physics from the
Harvard College in 1996, an
M.Phil from Cambridge University in 1997, and a PhD in
astronomy from the
California Institute of Technology in 2002. He was a Junior Fellow of the
Harvard Society of Fellows from 2002 to 2005. His astronomy research focuses on
gamma-ray bursts[
] and other
astrophysical transients such as
supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
e and
tidal disruption events. He is author of the book ''What Are Gamma-Ray Bursts?''
[
] published by
Princeton University Press in 2011.
Research
In 2009, ScienceWatch wrote that Bloom's
gamma-ray bursts "work ranks at No. 10 by total cites, based on 85 papers cited a total of 3,639 times. Five of these papers are on the lists of the 20 most-cited papers over the past decade and over the past two years."
He has published over 300 refereed articles
and was
principal investigator of the
Peters Automated Infrared Telescope (PAIRITEL) at the
Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in
Arizona. He is also
principal investigator of the Synoptic Infrared Survey Telescope (SASIR). Project and was co-chair of the transients and variable star group of the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Some of Bloom's current work focuses on the
classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood.
Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes.
It may also refer to:
Business, organizat ...
of
astrophysical transients using
machine-learning techniques.
[
] He suggested that
GRB 110328A was due to a new class of
relativistic outflow events from tidal disruption of a star by a massive
black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...
.
Honors and awards
Bloom was awarded the
Herchel Smith Harvard Scholarship to Cambridge University in 1996, and was a
Hertz Foundation Fellow at the
California Institute of Technology. In 2006, Bloom was named as a
Sloan Research Fellow by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., then-president and chief executive officer of General Motors.
The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support or ...
. In 2008, he was included as one of
Astronomy magazine's ten "rising stars.
["National magazines tout two chemists and two astronomers as top innovators in their fields"](_blank)
, University of California Newsroom, Berkeley, CA, August 22, 2008. In 2009, he was awarded the
Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy from the
American Astronomical Society
The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
. In 2010, he was named as the ''
Sophie
Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise".
People with the name Born in the Middle Ages
* Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson
* Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...
and
Tycho Brahe Visiting Professor'' at
Copenhagen University.
[
] He was awarded the Faculty Research Award
[
] from
Two Sigma in 2019. He is the Co-Creator of the
VOEvent VOEvent is a standardized language used to report observations of astronomical events; it was officially adopted in 2006 by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA). Though most VOEvent messages currently issued are related to superno ...
messaging scheme for
astronomical transients.
Teaching
Bloom teaches
astronomy to graduate and undergraduate students at the
University of California, Berkeley. In addition to astronomy-centric courses, he teaches the "Python Computing for Data Science" graduate course,
[
] aimed at PhD students in data-rich fields. Some of his lectures are available to the public as
podcasts[
]
and video streams (
Python class).
[
]
Tennis
Bloom held an
International Tennis Federation 45+ Masters Tour Singles Ranking of 993 in 2021
[
] and in September 2022 was ranked 273 in the
United States Tennis Association Men's 45 National Standings List for Singles.
[
]
References
External links
Joshua Bloom homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloom, Joshua
Living people
1974 births
Harvard College alumni
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
California Institute of Technology alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
Sloan Research Fellows