The Miller Institute is pleased to name Physics Professor Saul Perlmutter the 2010 Miller Senior Fellow for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2010. Professor’s Perlmutter uses astrophysical measurements to probe the make-up and evolution of our Universe. This is demonstrated through his work on supernovae, which has led to the discovery of a form of energy called “dark energy”. It is now believed that over 75% of the universe is made of dark energy; a finding that has revolutionized our scientific understanding of the universe. Dark energy is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important recent discoveries in basic science and has profound implications for astronomy, theoretical high-energy physics, general relativity and string theory. With such pioneering work, Professor Perlmutter has earned many notable awards including the Lawrence Award in Physics from the Department of Energy, the California Scientist of the Year Award in 2003, the John Scott Award, the Padua Prize, the Shaw Prize, the Antonio Feltrinelli International Prize, and the Gruber Cosmology Prize. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the National Academy of Sciences. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1986 working under Richard Muller (Miller Professor 1990).

As the third Miller Senior Fellow named, Perlmutter will join Randy Schekman, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, and Gabor Somorjai, Professor of Chemistry, as part of our community of world-renown scientists. Taking its place alongside the Institute’s other programs: the Miller Fellowships, the Miller Research Professorships and the Miller Visiting Professorships, the Miller Senior Fellow Program was established in 2008. Its purpose is to support excellence in basic science at UC Berkeley by providing distinguished faculty on campus with significant discretionary research funds and by involving them in the activities and intellectual fellowship of the Miller Institute. The Miller Senior Fellow Program enhances the Institute’s mission by fostering interactions between distinguished senior scientists in different disciplines and our postdoctoral fellows.