Uros Seljak | Research UC Berkeley

Research Expertise and Interest

astrophysics, cosmology, machine learning, Bayesian statistics

Research Description

Uros Seljak is a professor of physics, of astronomy, and a senior faculty scientist at LBNL. He is a cosmologist who is particularly well-known for his research on cosmic microwave background, galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing, and the implications of these observations for the models of the universe, its origins, content, and its future. In 1997, Seljak predicted the existence of B-modes in CMB polarization that are a tracer of primordial gravitational waves from inflation. Much of Seljak's recent work has been focused on how to extract fundamental properties of our universe from cosmological observations using analytical methods, numerical simulations and Machine Learning tools. Seljak is actively developing methods for accelerated Bayesian Inference, and applying them to cosmology, astronomy, and other sciences. Examples of this work are the MicroCanonical Hamiltonian and Langevin Monte Carlo and Deterministic Langevin Monte Carlo. Seljak was inducted to National Academy of Science in 2019 and co-awarded the 2021 Gruber Prize for his work introducing numerous techniques for the study of the large-scale structure of the universe as well as the properties of its first instant of existence. He received an honorary doctorate from University of Ljubljana in 2023.

In the News

COVID-19: Tracking, data privacy and getting the numbers right

As plans for re-opening businesses, communities and schools emerge, it becomes increasingly important to better understand how many people are being infected and dying from COVID-19, and where and how the new coronavirus is transmitted.

Study challenges reports of low fatality rate for COVID-19

A study by UC Berkeley and LBNL predicts that the true number of deaths in Italy from COVID-19 is more than twice the official figure: around 50,000 people, as of April 18.

The new National Academy of Sciences members

Eight Berkeley faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences

In recognition of their outstanding achievements in original research, eight UC Berkeley faculty have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the most distinguished scientific organizations in the country. The newly elected researchers include a neuroscientist, two physicists, two cellular biologists, a computer scientist, a chemist and an economist, and bring the total number of living UC Berkeley faculty who are members of the academy to 135.

Black holes ruled out as universe’s missing dark matter

For one brief shining moment after the 2015 detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes, astronomers held out hope that the universe’s mysterious dark matter might consist of a plenitude of black holes sprinkled throughout the universe.