Daniel M. Scolnic

Associate Professor of Physics

Use observational tools to measure the expansion history of the universe.  Trying to answer big questions like 'what is dark energy?'.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Associate Professor of Physics

Contact Information

  • Office Location: 120 Science Drive, Box 90305, Durham, NC 27708
  • Email Address: daniel.scolnic@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007
  • Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, 2013

Research Interests

Cosmology, Supernova.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Defense Science Study Group (DSSG). Institute for Defense Analysis. 2023
  • Clarivate Most Highly Cited Scientists. Clarivate. 2023
  • Fred Kavli Plenary Lectureship. American Astronomical Society. 2023
  • Sloan Research Fellowship-Physics. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 2022
  • Department of Energy Early Career Award. Department of Energy. 2021
  • Packard Fellowship. The David and Lucille Packard Foundation. 2019

Courses Taught

  • PHYSICS 791: Special Readings
  • PHYSICS 556: Stellar Astrophysics
  • PHYSICS 495: Thesis Independent Study
  • PHYSICS 493: Research Independent Study
  • PHYSICS 151L9D: Introductory Mechanics (Discussion Component)
  • PHYSICS 142L9D: General Physics II (Discussion)
  • PHYSICS 134: Introduction to Astronomy
  • HOUSECS 59: House Course

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Peterson, E. R., B. Carreres, A. Carr, D. Scolnic, A. Bailey, T. M. Davis, D. Brout, et al. “Improving the Determination of Supernova Cosmological Redshifts by Using Galaxy Groups.” Astrophysical Journal 980, no. 1 (February 10, 2025). https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada285.
  • Scolnic, Daniel, Adam G. Riess, Yukei S. Murakami, Erik R. Peterson, Dillon Brout, Maria Acevedo, Bastien Carreres, et al. “The Hubble Tension in Our Own Backyard: DESI and the Nearness of the Coma Cluster.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 979, no. 1 (January 20, 2025): L9–L9. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ada0bd.
  • Ibik, Adaeze L., Maria R. Drout, Raffaella Margutti, David Matthews, V Ashley Villar, Edo Berger, Ryan Chornock, et al. “PS1-11aop: Probing the Mass-loss History of a Luminous Interacting Supernova Prior to Its Final Eruption with Multiwavelength Observations.” The Astrophysical Journal 979, no. 1 (January 1, 2025): 16–16. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad9336.
  • Chen, R. C., D. Scolnic, M. Vincenzi, E. S. Rykoff, J. Myles, R. Kessler, B. Popovic, et al. “Evaluating cosmological biases using photometric redshifts for Type Ia Supernova cosmology with the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 536, no. 2 (December 12, 2024): 1948–66. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae2703.
  • Scolnic, Daniel, Paula Boubel, Jakob Byrne, Adam G. Riess, and Gagandeep S. Anand. “Calibrating the Tully-Fisher Relation to Measure the Hubble Constant,” December 11, 2024.