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 f ...

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

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where his main field of research is astrophysics 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. 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 land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, earning a B.S. in 1983. He then earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

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 The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) is the liberal arts and sciences school of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Established in 1841 with seven students and two teachers, the college is current ...

in 1995 and 1999 and the Faculty Recognition Award in 2002. Adams works in the general area of theoretical astrophysics with a focus on the study of star formation 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 ...

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, the density and size of which permit absorption nebulae, the formation of molecules (most commonly molecular hydroge ...

s. He has received recognition as an astrophysicist including the

Robert J. Trumpler Award The Robert J. Trumpler Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific is given annually to a recent recipient of the Ph.D degree whose thesis is judged particularly significant to astronomy.Helen B. Warner Prize The Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society to a young astronomer (aged less than 36, or within 8 years of the award of their PhD) for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical ...

. 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. The IMF is an output of the process of star formation. The IMF is often given as a probability d ...

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 elementary 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 "magneti ...

, cosmic rays, anti-matter, the

cosmic background radiation Cosmic background radiation is electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang. The origin of this radiation depends on the region of the spectrum that is observed. One component is the cosmic microwave background. This component is redshifted p ...

, galactic halos of dark matter, and the long-term future of the universe. He has also studied the dynamics of the solar system and of extrasolar planets, and has discovered 24 exoplanets and 8

Kuiper Belt Objects The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times ...

. He is the co-author of the book ''

The Five Ages of the Universe ''The Five Ages of the Universe'' is a popular science book written by astrophysicists Fred Adams and Gregory P. Laughlin about the future of an expanding universe first published in 1999. Book contents The book ''The Five Ages of the Unive ...

'' 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