Edwin Turner

Edwin Turner is Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University and an Affiliate Scientist at the University of Tokyo’s Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe. After receiving an SB in Physics (MIT ’71) and a PhD in Astronomy (Caltech ’75), he spent brief periods at the Institute for Advanced Study and on the astronomy faculty at Harvard University before joining the Princeton faculty in 1978. He has carried out extensive astronomical observations at numerous US and international observatories. Working in both theoretical and observational astrophysics, he has published more than 250 research papers with concentrations on topics including binary galaxies, groups of galaxies, large scale structure, dark matter, quasar populations, gravitational lensing, the cosmic x-ray background, dark energy, exoplanets, planet formation, astrobiology and the origin of life, frequently with an emphasis on statistical issues. Turner served nine years each on the Board of Directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy and the Space Telescope Institute Council (three of those years as its Chair). He also served as Director of the Apache Point Observatory 3.5-meter Telescope for nine years and on the Astrophysical Research Consortium’s Board of Governors for eight years. His recent teaching activities at Princeton include courses in cosmology, astrobiology, Bayesian statistical techniques, and news media coverage of science. Recently he has been an active participant in both the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative and the YHouse project and has pursued long standing interests in artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness.