Richard Larson

Professor of Astronomy

Richard Larson, B.Sc., M.A., University of Toronto, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, faculty member at Yale since 1968, you stand as a giant in modern astronomy who has made immense contributions to our understanding of two of the key astrophysical challenges of our generation: star formation and galaxy evolution.

Early on, your graduate thesis pioneered numerical simulations of star formation. Nothing that has been done such then in terms of numerical resolution and detail has challenged any of your early key conclusions, which have stood the test of time in a remarkable way.

Your lifetime achievements towards understanding star formation are vast and virtually unrivalled. You have taken a remarkably broad theoretical and phenomenological approach to this problem, combining analytic and numerical techniques, while also gleaning from the observations the crucial points that the observers themselves sometimes failed to see. You have an unerring physical intuition and a knack for cutting through complicated physics and confusing observations to pull out the essentials. Of such fundamental importance are the relationships you first identified in your 1981 paper, “Turbulence and Star Formation in Molecular Clouds” that they are now widely known as “Larson’s Laws”—although with typical modesty you refuse to call them that.

It is also no exaggeration to call you the first “modern” thinker about galaxy formation. With your colleague Beatrice Tinsley, you laid the quantitative foundations for the field of galaxy evolution modeling and wrote one of the most influential and highly cited papers on interacting galaxies ever written, which introduced the notion of starbursts triggered by galaxy interactions and mergers. In more recent years, along with Volker Bromm and Paolo Coppi, you have helped understand the formation of the first stars in the early universe, predicting that they are much larger than the stars of today. Unsurprisingly, in a world increasingly dominated by multi-author papers you have continued to be an intellectual leader through single-author papers. Your review papers are generally considered masterpieces—outstanding for their insight, synthesis and pedagogical qualities. Your highly lucid conference talks have guided and inspired countless students and colleagues. A department legend for your pointed questions at colloquia—alas for any fuzzy minded presenters—you see sharply through even the foggiest talks to illuminate the key questions.

The life of the department has benefited immeasurably—not only from your intellectual accomplishments—but from your numerous contributions, including service as department chair, and as director of Undergraduate Studies, where you have guided generations of astronomy majors. For decades you have taught twin pillars of the department’s curriculum, imparting your wisdom in “Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy”, the first required course for undergraduate majors, and “Star Formation and the Interstellar Medium”, a key course for graduate students. A true scholar of astronomy, you have a remarkable devotion to reading the literature, and have also overseen the collection of the Astronomy Library, to whose collection you are a daily visitor. As you retire, your colleagues note that while the universe is illuminated by many stars and galaxies, the stars and galaxies themselves are illuminated by the brilliance of scientists like, you, Richard Larson, one of the brightest stars in Yale’s own universe.

Tribute Editor: Penelope Laurans