Matias Zaldarriaga
Co-Investigator
I am Matias Zaldarriaga, Richard Black Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, where I specialize in astrophysics and cosmology. My research is driven by a deep curiosity about the very earliest moments of the universe — I try to decode the subtle messages encoded in the cosmic microwave background, and I explore how the large-scale distribution of matter today reveals fundamental physics.
My academic journey began in Buenos Aires, where I earned a Licenciado en Ciencias Físicas from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1994. I went on to complete my Ph.D. at MIT in 1998. Not long afterward, I joined the Institute for Advanced Study as a member, and in 2009 I became a faculty member — a role I cherish deeply.
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to receive several honors: the MacArthur Fellowship (2006), the Gribov Medal from the European Physical Society (2005), the Sloan Fellowship (2004), and the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society (2003), among others. In 2021, I was awarded the Gruber Cosmology Prize, and I’ve been elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Before returning to IAS as faculty, I held professorships at Harvard University (2004–2009) and served as an assistant professor at New York University (2001–2002). I continue to seek out the simplest, most elegant ways to describe complex cosmological phenomena — whether that’s through theory, computation, or statistical insight — and I find great joy in contributing to our collective understanding of the universe.
Contact
Simons Collaboration ON Black Holes and Strong Gravity 