People

Biography

Peter Galison is the director of the Black Hole Initiative (BHI) at Harvard University, and the Joseph Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University.  He is an interdisciplinary researcher with expertise in the fields of physics and the history/philosophy of science. He has worked extensively on the history of science, technology, and national security, and his work has been widely recognized for its contributions to the field. He is the recipient of awards and honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the Max Planck and Humboldt Stiftung Prize, the Pfizer Prize, and the Abraham Pais Prize. As a member of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, he shared in the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the capture of the first image of the supermassive black hole, M87*. 

Research Interests

Professor Galison’s work explores the complex interaction between the three principal subcultures of physics–experimentation, instrumentation, and theory.

More From Peter

Personal website
Department of the History of Science
Department of Physics
Black Holes | The Edge of All We Know (2020)