History and Archives

Joshua Frieman received his undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford University in 1981 and his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago in 1985. After completing his PhD, Frieman held a postdoc position at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Theory Group. Frieman became a scientist at Fermilab in 1988 and became a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago in 1990. Frieman was head of Fermilab’s Theoretical Astrophysics Group from 1994 to 1999. In 1997, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "his many contributions in the application of particle physics to early-universe cosmology."

During the 2000s, Frieman led the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's (SDSS) Supernova Survey. He later co-founded the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and served as its director from 2010 to 2018. In 2004, Frieman was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and became a member of the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics when the lab created the center that year. Frieman became head of Fermilab's Particle Physics Division in 2018 and served in this role until 2021. In 2019, the Department of Energy named him a DOE Office of Science Distinguished Scientists Fellow "for pioneering advances in the science of dark energy and cosmic acceleration, including leading the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey, co-founding the Dark Energy Survey and service as its Director." Frieman was also elected to a three-year term as president of the Aspen Center for Physics in 2019. He became a Fermilab scientist emeritus in 2021 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.

Joshua Frieman Content

• Fermilab and University of Chicago scientist Josh Frieman awarded $1 million by DOE Office of Science — October 16, 2019
• Fermilab astrophysicist Josh Frieman elected to National Academy of Sciences — May 18, 2022