Scientists on Reddit

Brian Schmidt

Astrophysicist, 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

u/Schmidt_and_Francis ↗Shared account

Shared with fellow astronomer Paul Francis for their 2015 r/askscience AMA. Only Schmidt's own answers are quoted.

How we know it's theirs

The 2015 r/askscience AMA, posted from this account

We retrieved 1 post and 68 comments from u/Schmidt_and_Francis, all from 2015, most often in r/askscience.

Best moment

A redditor wrote in r/askscience

On “AskScience AMA Series: We are Brian Schmidt and Paul Francis, Cosmology researchers and professors at Australian National University. AUA!”

Hi, Thanks for doing this AMA.. Brain, What led you and your team to discover Dark Energy? And how has that helped understanding what's happening in the universe?

u/Schmidt_and_Francis replied

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We were trying to measure how the Universe was slowing down (its expansion - where everything in the Universe moves away from everything else) over time - Predicted by General Relativity - instead we found the Universe was speeding up - that is - things were moving apart more and more quickly over time. Einstein, in 1917 realised that if there was energy that was spread through out space - it could cause the Universe to accelerate. It is still our best (and only viable) explanation of the Universe's acceleration.

More moments

A redditor wrote in r/askscience

On “AskScience AMA Series: We are Brian Schmidt and Paul Francis, Cosmology researchers and professors at Australian National University. AUA!”

Which supernovas are cooler, type Ia or type II? edit: I don't mean temperature-wise

u/Schmidt_and_Francis replied

I love both - Ia's gave me Nobel Prize, and Type II's gave me my PhD thesis. Ia's are the more spectacular explosions - but type IIs make the Carbon and Oxygen that allow us to exist...

A redditor wrote in r/askscience

On “AskScience AMA Series: We are Brian Schmidt and Paul Francis, Cosmology researchers and professors at Australian National University. AUA!”

How far back, if at all, did the bush fire which gutted the telescopes at Mt. Stromlow Observatory set back your work?

u/Schmidt_and_Francis replied

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So we burned to the ground on 18 January 2003 - See for example http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/0405/images/0405feature4.jpg Paul and I were part of a project to map the southern sky - (we started on 1 January 2013) - We would have completed the survey in 2008 - We are starting the survey again (started last year) - and while it will be better than what we were going to do back then - we are 10 years behind. So I think I lost several years equivalent of my scientific career - but that which does not destroy you makes you stronger!