Daniel Scolnic

Daniel Scolnic
Daniel Scolnic
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS) (2007) ; Johns Hopkins University (DPhil) (2013)
Known for	using Type Ia supernovae as standard candles to measure the expansion history of the universe and constrain parameters such as the Hubble constant and the properties of dark energy.
	Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics
Workplaces	Duke University

Daniel Scolnic is an American astrophysicist and academic known for his research in observational cosmology. He currently serves as an associate professor in the Physics Department at Duke University, holding a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Scolnic's primary scientific research involve using Type Ia supernovae as standard candles to measure the expansion history of the universe and constrain parameters such as the Hubble constant and the properties of dark energy. His work is central to the ongoing discussion around the Hubble tension, the significant disagreement between local and cosmological measurements of the universe's expansion rate.

He is a recipient of the Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering and a Sloan Research Fellowship.

Education and early career

Scolnic completed his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Physics in 2007. His undergraduate thesis, Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination, was supervised by theoretical astrophysicist and cosmologist Edmund Bertschinger.

He went on to earn his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. His doctoral research, Combing large samples of type Ia supernovae to constrain dark energy, involved analyzing supernovae data from the Pan-STARRS survey and was supervised by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess.

Following his PhD, Scolnic was appointed as a Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics Fellow at the University of Chicago and later transitioned to a NASA Hubble Fellow at the same institution.

Academic and research career

Duke University

Scolnic joined Duke University as an assistant professor in the Physics Department in 2019 and was promoted to associate professor in 2023. He co-leads the Duke Cosmology Group, which uses observational data to investigate the expansion history of the cosmos and the nature of dark energy.

Research contributions

Scolnic is known for his work on Type Ia supernovae datasets:

Pantheon and Pantheon+ Compilations: He helped lead the creation of these comprehensive compilations of Type Ia supernovae, which are considered benchmark datasets in cosmology. They are used to accurately constrain the parameters of dark energy and the Hubble constant.
Hubble Tension: He is a key member of the SH0ES (Supernovae H0 for the Equation of State) team, which uses local measurements of Type Ia supernovae to determine the precise value of the Hubble constant, contributing crucial data to the cosmological "Hubble tension" problem.
Future Missions: His methodologies, which focus on rigorous data calibration, simulations, and open science practices, have been used in the design and scientific goals of upcoming astronomical projects such as the Roman Space Telescope and the Rubin Observatory.

Awards and honors

Scolnic has been the recipient of the following awards and honors:

Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (2019)
U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award (2021) for his research on reducing systematic uncertainties in supernova analyses.
Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics (2022)
Fred Kavli Plenary Lectureship at the 242nd American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting (2023).
Selected for the Defense Science Study Group by the Institute for Defense Analyses (2023).

Selected publications

Scolnic, D. M., et al. "The Complete Light-curve Sample of Spectroscopically Confirmed Type Ia Supernovae from Pan-STARRS1 and Cosmological Constraints from the Combined Pantheon Sample." The Astrophysical Journal, 2018.
Brout, D., et al. "The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints." The Astrophysical Journal, 2022.
Riess, A. G., et al. "A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant." The Astrophysical Journal, 2016.
Scolnic, D.M., et al. "The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Dataset and Light-Curve Release." The Astrophysical Journal, 2021.

References

↑ "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.
↑ "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.
↑ "Dan Scolnic Shows that the Universe Is Still Full of Surprises". Duke University. 16 January 2025.
↑ "Cosmologists Debate How Fast the Universe Is Expanding". Quanta Magazine. 8 August 2019.
↑ "The universe is expanding faster than it should be". National Geographic.
↑ "Prestigious Packard Fellowship supports Duke Cosmologist in answering questions about what makes up the universe". Duke University. 15 October 2019.
↑ "Two Duke Re". Duke University. 15 February 2022.
↑ Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Thesis). 2007. hdl:1721.1/40913.
↑ Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Thesis). 2007. hdl:1721.1/40913.
↑ M. Scolnic, Daniel. "Combing large samples of type Ia supernovae to constrain dark energy [microform] / by Daniel M. Scolnic". Johns Hopkins University.
↑ M. Scolnic, Daniel. "Combing large samples of type Ia supernovae to constrain dark energy [microform] / by Daniel M. Scolnic". Johns Hopkins University.
↑ "Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics Fellow". University of Chicago.
↑ "Dan Scolnic". NASA.
↑ "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.
↑ "Duke Cosmology Group". Duke University.
↑ Scolnic, Dan; Brout, Dillon; Carr, Anthony; Riess, Adam G.; Davis, Tamara M.; Dwomoh, Arianna; Jones, David O.; Ali, Noor; Charvu, Pranav; Chen, Rebecca; Peterson, Erik R.; Popovic, Brodie; Rose, Benjamin M.; Wood, Charlotte M.; Brown, Peter J.; Chambers, Ken; Coulter, David A.; Dettman, Kyle G.; Dimitriadis, Georgios; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Foley, Ryan J.; Jha, Saurabh W.; Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Pan, Yen-Chen; Rest, Armin; Rojas-Bravo, Cesar; Siebert, Matthew R.; Stahl, Benjamin E.; Zheng, Weikang (2022). "The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release". The Astrophysical Journal. 938 (2): 113. arXiv:2112.03863. Bibcode:2022ApJ...938..113S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8b7a.
↑ "Meet the AAS Keynote Speakers: Daniel Scolnic". Astrobites. 3 June 2023.
↑ "Meet the AAS Keynote Speakers: Daniel Scolnic". Astrobites. 3 June 2023.
↑ "Prof. Scolnic Receives DOE Early Career Award". Duke University. 28 May 2021.
↑ "AAS Names Daniel Scolnic as Fred Kavli Plenary Lecturer for 242nd Meeting". American Astronomical Society.
↑ Scolnic, D. M.; et al. (2018). "The Complete Light-curve Sample of Spectroscopically Confirmed SNe Ia from Pan-STARRS1 and Cosmological Constraints from the Combined Pantheon Sample". Harvard University. 859 (2): 101. arXiv:1710.00845. Bibcode:2018ApJ...859..101S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aab9bb.
↑ "The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints". Duke University.
↑ Riess, Adam G.; Macri, Lucas M.; Hoffmann, Samantha L.; Scolnic, Dan; Casertano, Stefano; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Tucker, Brad E.; Reid, Mark J.; Jones, David O.; Silverman, Jeffrey M.; Chornock, Ryan; Challis, Peter; Yuan, Wenlong; Brown, Peter J.; Foley, Ryan J. (2016). "A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant". Harvard University. 826 (1): 56. arXiv:1604.01424. Bibcode:2016ApJ...826...56R. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/826/1/56.
↑ Scolnic, Dan; Brout, Dillon; Carr, Anthony; Riess, Adam G.; Davis, Tamara M.; Dwomoh, Arianna; Jones, David O.; Ali, Noor; Charvu, Pranav; Chen, Rebecca; Peterson, Erik R.; Popovic, Brodie; Rose, Benjamin M.; Wood, Charlotte M.; Brown, Peter J.; Chambers, Ken; Coulter, David A.; Dettman, Kyle G.; Dimitriadis, Georgios; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Foley, Ryan J.; Jha, Saurabh W.; Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Pan, Yen-Chen; Rest, Armin; Rojas-Bravo, Cesar; Siebert, Matthew R.; Stahl, Benjamin E.; Zheng, Weikang (2022). "The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release". The Astrophysical Journal. 938 (2): 113. arXiv:2112.03863. Bibcode:2022ApJ...938..113S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8b7a.

[1] "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.

[2] "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.

[3] "Dan Scolnic Shows that the Universe Is Still Full of Surprises". Duke University. 16 January 2025.

[4] "Cosmologists Debate How Fast the Universe Is Expanding". Quanta Magazine. 8 August 2019.

[5] "The universe is expanding faster than it should be". National Geographic.

[6] "Prestigious Packard Fellowship supports Duke Cosmologist in answering questions about what makes up the universe". Duke University. 15 October 2019.

[7] "Two Duke Re". Duke University. 15 February 2022.

[8] Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Thesis). 2007. hdl:1721.1/40913.

[9] Solving the system of atomic rate equations during recombination. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Thesis). 2007. hdl:1721.1/40913.

[10] M. Scolnic, Daniel. "Combing large samples of type Ia supernovae to constrain dark energy [microform] / by Daniel M. Scolnic". Johns Hopkins University.

[11] M. Scolnic, Daniel. "Combing large samples of type Ia supernovae to constrain dark energy [microform] / by Daniel M. Scolnic". Johns Hopkins University.

[12] "Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics Fellow". University of Chicago.

[13] "Dan Scolnic". NASA.

[14] "Daniel Scolnic". Duke University.

[15] "Duke Cosmology Group". Duke University.

[16] Scolnic, Dan; Brout, Dillon; Carr, Anthony; Riess, Adam G.; Davis, Tamara M.; Dwomoh, Arianna; Jones, David O.; Ali, Noor; Charvu, Pranav; Chen, Rebecca; Peterson, Erik R.; Popovic, Brodie; Rose, Benjamin M.; Wood, Charlotte M.; Brown, Peter J.; Chambers, Ken; Coulter, David A.; Dettman, Kyle G.; Dimitriadis, Georgios; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Foley, Ryan J.; Jha, Saurabh W.; Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Pan, Yen-Chen; Rest, Armin; Rojas-Bravo, Cesar; Siebert, Matthew R.; Stahl, Benjamin E.; Zheng, Weikang (2022). "The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release". The Astrophysical Journal. 938 (2): 113. arXiv:2112.03863. Bibcode:2022ApJ...938..113S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8b7a.

[17] "Meet the AAS Keynote Speakers: Daniel Scolnic". Astrobites. 3 June 2023.

[18] "Meet the AAS Keynote Speakers: Daniel Scolnic". Astrobites. 3 June 2023.

[19] "Prof. Scolnic Receives DOE Early Career Award". Duke University. 28 May 2021.

[20] "AAS Names Daniel Scolnic as Fred Kavli Plenary Lecturer for 242nd Meeting". American Astronomical Society.

[21] Scolnic, D. M.; et al. (2018). "The Complete Light-curve Sample of Spectroscopically Confirmed SNe Ia from Pan-STARRS1 and Cosmological Constraints from the Combined Pantheon Sample". Harvard University. 859 (2): 101. arXiv:1710.00845. Bibcode:2018ApJ...859..101S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aab9bb.

[22] "The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints". Duke University.

[23] Riess, Adam G.; Macri, Lucas M.; Hoffmann, Samantha L.; Scolnic, Dan; Casertano, Stefano; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Tucker, Brad E.; Reid, Mark J.; Jones, David O.; Silverman, Jeffrey M.; Chornock, Ryan; Challis, Peter; Yuan, Wenlong; Brown, Peter J.; Foley, Ryan J. (2016). "A 2.4% Determination of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant". Harvard University. 826 (1): 56. arXiv:1604.01424. Bibcode:2016ApJ...826...56R. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/826/1/56.

[24] Scolnic, Dan; Brout, Dillon; Carr, Anthony; Riess, Adam G.; Davis, Tamara M.; Dwomoh, Arianna; Jones, David O.; Ali, Noor; Charvu, Pranav; Chen, Rebecca; Peterson, Erik R.; Popovic, Brodie; Rose, Benjamin M.; Wood, Charlotte M.; Brown, Peter J.; Chambers, Ken; Coulter, David A.; Dettman, Kyle G.; Dimitriadis, Georgios; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Foley, Ryan J.; Jha, Saurabh W.; Kilpatrick, Charles D.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Pan, Yen-Chen; Rest, Armin; Rojas-Bravo, Cesar; Siebert, Matthew R.; Stahl, Benjamin E.; Zheng, Weikang (2022). "The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Data Set and Light-curve Release". The Astrophysical Journal. 938 (2): 113. arXiv:2112.03863. Bibcode:2022ApJ...938..113S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac8b7a.