Joel Primack

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Joel R. Primack
Born
Joel Robert Primack

(1945-07-14)July 14, 1945
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
DiedNovember 13, 2025(2025-11-13) (aged 80)
OccupationPhysicist
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Stanford University (PhD)
PeriodUCSC: 1973–2025
UC-HiPACC: 2010–2025
Notable awardsAlexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Award, 1997
SpouseNancy Ellen Abrams
Children1 daughter
Website
scipp.ucsc.edu/personnel/profiles/primack.html

Joel Robert Primack (July 14, 1945 – November 13, 2025) was an American physicist. He was a professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and was a member of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics.[1][2]

Life and career

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Primack received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1970. His fields of study were relativistic quantum field theory, cosmology, and particle astrophysics. He was also involved in supercomputer simulations of dark matter models. He directed the University of California High-Performance AstroComputing Center (UC-HiPACC). Primack is best known for his co-authorship with George R. Blumenthal, Sandra Moore Faber, and Martin Rees of the theory of cold dark matter (CDM) in 1984.[3][4] He co-authored two books with Nancy Abrams, The View from the Center of the Universe (2006)[5] and The New Universe and the Human Future (2011).[6] He played main roles in starting the Congressional Science and Technology Fellowship program, the Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society, and the Science and Human Rights program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1970-1973.[7] He was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Primack died on November 13, 2025, at the age of 80.[8][better source needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Joel R. Primack". Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Welcome from the Director". Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  3. ^ Blumenthal; et al. (11 Oct 1984). "Formation of galaxies and large-scale structure with cold dark matter" (PDF). Nature. 311 (5986): 517–525. Bibcode:1984Natur.311..517B. doi:10.1038/311517a0. OSTI 1447148. S2CID 4324282.
  4. ^ Joel R. Primack, "Dark Matter, Galaxies, and Large Scale Structure in the Universe", SLAC-PUB-3387 (July 1984), in Proceedings of the International School of Physics XCII 1987
  5. ^ The View from the Center of the Universe. Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, Riverhead Books, 2007 (ISBN 978-1594482557).
  6. ^ The New Universe and the Human Future - The Terry Lectures. Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams, Yale University Press, 2012 (ISBN 978-0300181241).
  7. ^ David Hafemeiste. "History of the Forum on Physics and Society". Forum on Physics and Society, Vol 28, p 3-5. ; Link in APS website
  8. ^ Joel Robert Primack Neptune Society
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