Carlos Frenk
Carlos Silvestre Frenk | |
|---|---|
Frenk in 2012 | |
| Born | 27 October 1951 |
| Citizenship | British, Mexican |
| Alma mater | National Autonomous University of Mexico (BSc) University of Cambridge (PhD) |
| Known for | Navarro–Frenk–White profile |
| Spouse | Susan Frenk |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Institutions | Durham University University of Sussex University of California, Santa Barbara University of California, Berkeley |
| Thesis | Globular clusters in the galaxy and in the Large Magellanic Cloud (1981) |
| Doctoral advisor | Bernard J. T. Jones |
| Doctoral students | Ben Moore Gillian Wilson |
| Website | https://astro.dur.ac.uk/~csf/homepage/index.html |
Carlos Silvestre Frenk CBE FRS (born 27 October 1951) is a Mexican-British cosmologist.[1] He has been Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University since 2001 and was director of the university’s Institute for Computational Cosmology from 2001 to 2020.[2] Frenk is known for his work on galaxy formation, dark matter, and cosmological simulations.
Early life and education
Frenk was born in Mexico City, Mexico.[3] His father was a German-Jewish physician who emigrated before the Second World War, and his mother was a Mexican pianist.[4] His younger brother, Julio Frenk, is a physician and academic administrator.[5]
Frenk studied engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) before switching to theoretical physics, graduating in 1976 with the Gabino Barreda Medal.[6] He moved to the University of Cambridge in 1976 on a British Council Fellowship, completing Part III of the Mathematical Tripos in 1977 and a PhD in 1981 under Bernard J. T. Jones, focusing on globular clusters.[7]
Career
After his doctorate, Frenk worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, where he collaborated with Marc Davis on galaxy surveys. In 1983, Frenk, Davis, and Simon White published work showing that neutrinos could not account for dark matter.[8] He later held posts at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Sussex.[3]
With Davis, White, and George Efstathiou, Frenk helped develop early simulations supporting the cold dark matter (CDM) model. A 1985 paper in The Astrophysical Journal presented the first large-scale CDM simulations.[9]
In 1986, Frenk joined Durham University, becoming professor in 1993. In 1994 he and White co-founded the Virgo Consortium for cosmological simulations.[6]
Navarro–Frenk–White profile
In 1996 and 1997, Frenk, White, and Julio Navarro described the Navarro–Frenk–White profile, which characterises the distribution of dark matter in halos and is widely used in cosmology.[9]
Later work
In 2001, Frenk became the first Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham and founding director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology, a post he held until 2020.[2] He was part of the Virgo Consortium’s Millennium Run project and continues to work on large-scale simulations of galaxy formation.
Personal life
Frenk is married to Susan Frenk, a lecturer in Spanish and Latin American literature and Principal of St Aidan's College, Durham. They have two sons.[10]
Honours
Frenk was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2004.[11] He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to cosmology.[12]
He has received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2014), the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2006), the Daniel Chalonge Medal (2007), the George Darwin Lectureship (2010), the Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize (2010), the Gruber Prize in Cosmology (2011), the Max Born Prize (2017), the Dirac Medal and Prize (2020), and the Rumford Medal (2021).[13][14][3][15][16][17]
In 2023 he was named an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.[18]
Media
Frenk has appeared on television and radio, including The Sky at Night and BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2018.[4]
References
- ^ Anon (2017). "Frenk, Prof. Carlos Silvestre". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U16471. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ a b "Carlos Frenk CV" (PDF).
- ^ a b c "Carlos Frenk". Gruber Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Professor Carlos Frenk". Desert Island Discs. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ Winward, Dylan (8 January 2025). "From public health policy to higher education: Julio Frenk becomes UCLA chancellor". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
- ^ a b "The universe in a desktop". Scientific Computing World. Europa Science Ltd. 8 May 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ Carlos Frenk at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ White, Simon; Frenk, Carlos; Davis, Marc (November 1983). "Clustering in a neutrino-dominated universe". The Astrophysical Journal. 274: L1 – L5. Bibcode:1983ApJ...274L...1W. doi:10.1086/184139.
- ^ a b Gianfranco Bertone; Dan Hooper (24 May 2016). "A History of Dark Matter" (PDF). Fermilab. p. 61. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "A marriage of minds". Times Higher Education (THE). 4 November 1994. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ "Carlos Frenk". Royal Society. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B8.
- ^ "RAS Awards 2014". Astronomy & Geophysics. 55: 1.37 – 1.38. February 2014. doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atu040.
- ^ "Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize recipients". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Born medal recipients". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "2020 Paul Dirac Medal and Prize". Institute of Physics. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Prestigious Award for Galaxy Evolution Research". Durham University. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ "Honorary Fellows" (PDF). Annual Report 2023. King's College, Cambridge: 10. 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
External links
- Media related to Carlos Frenk at Wikimedia Commons