Lars Hernquist

Lars Hernquist is a theoretical astrophysicist and Mallinckrodt Professor of Astrophysics at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. He is best known for his research on dynamical processes in cosmology and galaxy formation/galaxy evolution.

Career and research

Hernquist's research involves the dynamics of galaxies and the effect of a merger driven model for galaxy evolution. He is a world expert in simulating mergers of galaxies to demonstrate the expected appearance and morphology of the resulting body. He defined the "Hernquist Profile", which is an analytic expression for the distribution of dark matter in galaxies. Hernquist's research is largely computational with one of the world's largest supercomputers accessible for his research.

Awards

Hernquist was awarded the 2020 Gruber Prize in Cosmology jointly with Volker Springel, who together have made computer simulations "an indispensable tool for cosmologists, allowing them to test theories and locate fertile areas for further research."