Dr. Raymond Carlberg is a distinguished astrophysicist and leading authority in observational cosmology and galaxy formation studies at the University of Toronto. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics following a distinguished career that included serving as Department Chair. After earning his PhD from the University of British Columbia in 1978, he established himself as a pivotal figure in Canadian astronomy through his innovative research and leadership positions. His career has been marked by significant contributions to telescope design and construction, including his decade-long role as the Canadian Project Director for the Thirty Meter Telescope from 2003 to 2017.
Dr. Carlberg's groundbreaking work as principal investigator of the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology led to significant advances in understanding galaxy clusters and field galaxy properties through comprehensive surveys. He played a crucial leadership role in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey where his team's Supernova Legacy Survey component made the first accurate measurement of the dark energy equation of state parameter. This seminal research demonstrated that dark energy remains constant in time to better than 10% precision providing strong evidence supporting Einstein's cosmological constant. With over 48,000 citations to his work Dr. Carlberg's extensive research portfolio includes influential contributions to N-body modeling galactic dynamics and star streams as indicators of dark matter substructure within the Milky Way halo.
Beyond his individual research achievements Dr. Carlberg has been instrumental in advancing the field through his leadership in major international collaborations and survey initiatives. He served as the Euclid Consortium Board Canadian representative as of 2017 and is listed as a Builder while actively contributing to the Canada-France Imaging Survey and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument consortium. His guidance has been critical in shaping Canadian participation in next-generation telescope projects including the Extremely Large Telescope designs. As an esteemed educator and mentor Dr. Carlberg has influenced generations of astronomers through his teaching and research supervision. His ongoing work continues to explore the frontiers of observational cosmology with current research focusing on refining our understanding of dark energy and large-scale structure of the universe through cutting-edge survey data.
