Brian Schmidt AC (b. 1967) is a Nobel Prize-winning astronomer, based at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University. Raised in Montana and Alaska, Schmidt undertook undergraduate studies in astronomy and physics at the University of Arizona and completed his PhD in astronomy at Harvard in 1993. Since 1995, when he arrived at the ANU as a post-doctoral fellow, he has taught there. By no means a stranger to prizes and awards, in 2011, for his discoveries concerning the accelerating universe, he jointly won the Nobel Prize for Physics with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter. Listing his current interests as observational cosmology, studies of supernovae, gamma ray bursts, large surveys, photometry and calibration, he continues to study the universe using exploding stars, and is currently leading Mt Stromlo’s construction of the SkyMapper telescope, a facility that will provide a comprehensive digital map of the southern sky from ultraviolet through near-infrared wavelengths. Active in local affairs, Schmidt also produces pinot noir at his Maipenrai Vineyard and Winery in the Canberra district. On 1 January 2016 Schmidt became the twelfth Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University.
