Campus Directory

Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Astronomy & Astrophysics Department
UC Observatories

Title Astronomer/Professor Emerita

Affiliation Faculty

Faculty Type Emeriti

Areas of Expertise Astronomy
Astrophysics
Cosmology

Web Site

Additional Location(s) CfAO 101

Mail Stop UCO / Lick Observatory

Biography, Education and Training

BA, Swarthmore College, 1966
PhD, Harvard University, 1972

Summary of Expertise

Galaxy formation and evolution
Stellar populations
Astronomical instrumentation

Astrophysics

Research Interests

My research is focused on using the lookback power of large telescopes to study the formation and evolution of galaxies. With colleagues Koo and Guhathakurta at UCSC and Davis at UCB, we completed the DEEP2 survey of 50,000 distant galaxies using the DEIMOS spectrograph at Keck 2, for which I was the PI. In the Extended Groth Strip, DEEP2 spectra have been augmented by a wealth of multi-wavelength data from the Chandra, Spitzer, and GALEX telescopes to create AEGIS, the largest deeply imaged panchromatic region on the sky. DEEP2/AEGIS data are being used to count galaxies, study their morphologies (see image above), measure their star-formation rates, and study their dynamics and metallicities. Our team has also joined with other scientists to create the CANDELS project, which is the largest survey of the universe undertaken by the Hubble Telescope. This incredibly rich database provides unique material for studying every aspect of galaxy evolution from mass assembly, to star-formation, morphological transformation, AGNs, and their effects.

Teaching Interests

Galaxy evolution

Awards, Honors and Grants

University Professor, University of California
Bower Award and Prize for Science from the Franklin Institute
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society
Dannie Heinemann Prize of the American Astronomical Society
Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Annette de Vaucouleurs Medal, University of Texas
Médaille de l’Institute d’Astrophysique de Paris
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow
Honorary degrees: University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of
Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Williams College
Member, National Academy of Sciences
Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member, American Philosophical Society
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Harvard Board of Overseers
Member, Board of Trustees, Carnegie Institution for Science
Vice President and member, Board of Directors, Annual Reviews

Selected Publications

• A Relationship between Nuclear Black Hole Mass and Galaxy Velocity Dispersion, K. Gebhardt et al., ApJ, 531, 13, 2000
• The Demography of Massive Dark Objects in Galaxy Centers, J. Magorrian et al., AJ, 115, 2285, 1998
• Velocity dispersions and mass-to-light ratios for elliptical galaxies, S.M. Faber and R.E. Jackson, ApJ, 204, 668, 1976
• Formation of galaxies and large-scale structure with cold dark matter, G. Blumenthal et al., Nature, 311, 517, 1984
• Spectroscopy and photometry of elliptical galaxies. I - A new distance estimator, A. Dressler et al., ApJ, 313, 42, 1987
• Masses and mass-to-light ratios of galaxies, S.M. Faber & J. S. Gallagher, ARAA, 17, 135, 1979
• Spectroscopy and photometry of elliptical galaxies. V - Galaxy streaming toward the new supergalactic center, D. Lynden-Bell et al., ApJ, 326, 19, 1988
• The Centers of Early-Type Galaxies with HST. IV. Central Parameter Relations, S.M. Faber et al., AJ, 114, 1771, 1997
• Galaxy Luminosity Functions to z~1 from DEEP2 and COMBO-17: Implications for Red Galaxy Formation, S.M. Faber et al., ApJ, 665, 265, 2007