Scott A. Hughes
Research Interests
- Astrophysical general relativity
- Gravitational wave physics and astrophysics
- Black holes and strong-field gravity
Biographical Sketch
Professor Hughes attended Cornell University as an undergraduate, earning a B.A. in Physics in 1993. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the California Institute of Technology, working with Professor Kip Thorne, and then did postdocs at the University of Illinois, Caltech, and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics before joining the MIT Physics faculty in January 2003.
More info:
3Q: Scott Hughes on cosmic distances and the future of gravitational wave astronomy
Professor of physics describes our understanding of the expansion of the universe through “standard sirens.”
Awards & Honors
- 2017-27 // Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT (Honors MIT's Best Teachers)
- 2016 // Buechner Outstanding Advisor Award, MIT Physics
- 2012 // American Physical Society Fellow "For pioneering work in gravitational wave physics including modeling the waveforms of extreme mass-ratio inspirals, developing a framework for testing black hole spacetimes, and showing how gravitational waves can be used to study structure formation and measure cosmological parameters."
- 2012 // John Simon Guggenheim Fellow
- 2005-06 // MIT School of Science Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
- 2005 // National Science Foundation Career Grant
- 2005 // Buechner Teaching Prize, MIT Physics
- 2004 // Appointed Class of 1956 Career Development Professor (MIT)
Key Publications
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Lisa V. Drummond and Scott A. Hughes, “Precisely computing bound orbits of spinning bodies around black holes I: General framework and results for nearly equatorial orbits”, Physical Review D 105, 124041 (2022) (https://arXiv,org/abs/2201.13335)
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Scott A. Hughes, Anuj Apte, Gaurav Khanna, and Halston Lim, “Learning about Black Hole Binaries from their Ringdown Spectra,” Physical Review Letters, 123, 161101 (2019) (https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.05900)
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Daniel E. Holz, Scott A. Hughes, and Bernard F. Schutz, “Measuring cosmic distances with standard sirens,” Physics Today, 71, 12, 34 (2018) (https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4090)