Biography Sources

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~rkirshner/CV.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~rkirshner/

Robert Kirshner

Kirshner was born on August 15, 1949. he received his first university level education at Harvard University, graduating in 1970. From there he went on to get a P.h.D in Astronomy at Caltech. He became a postdoc at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, in addition to serving on the faculty at the University of Michigan for nine years. In 1986, he returned to Harvard to become a faculty member in the Astronomy Department. He served as Chairman of the Department from 1990 to 1997. In his time, Kirshner has written and published over 200 research papers, most of which deal with supernovae and the size and shape of the universe.  His most significant discovery was accomplished with the "High-Z Supernova Team". In this discovery the team found concrete evidence for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. This was deemed so important that it was given the title of "Science Breakthrough of the Year for 1998" by Science Magazine. Several members of the team would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2008. This discovery drastically changed how we view the universe, and is considered to be one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the last 20 years. In his later career, Kirshner became the President of the American Astronomical Society from 2004-2008. Over the past six years he has given dozens of important lectures all over the world, and continues to contribute to the Astronomical field of science.

APOD 4.7

This image shows a highly enhanced view of the common constellation Scorpius. The tail of the cosmic scorpion lies directly in the plane of the milky way, which looks quite spectacular in an image with a long exposure time. One might notice the seeming overabundance of red in the picture; this is due to the red "filter" used by the camera to better detect and display traces of hydrogen. The seemingly bright star located above the head of the scorpion is actually the planet Jupiter, making for a remarkably breathtaking photograph

APOD 4.6

In 2006, an unneeded space suit filled with old clothes was jettisoned by the crew of the ISS into orbit around Earth. The space suit was outfitted with a small and weak radio transmitter so the crew could track it's orbit around the planet. The suit stayed in orbit for a few weeks until it's trajectory decayed and it burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. The picture shown here was taken shortly after the release of the suit, and looks quite breathtaking with the Earth looming in from the right side of the frame.