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Astronomical achievement - how to win a Nobel Prize in 12 steps (from a guy who has one)

Astronomical achievement - how to win a Nobel Prize in 12 steps (from a guy who has one)
Schmidt on 12 August in an impromptu press interview at the IAU’s first general assembly in Africa, Cape Town Convention Centre. (Photo: Tiara Walters)
Tiara Walters
By Tiara Walters
27 Aug 2024
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Professor Brian Schmidt is the scientist who worked out that the expanding universe is also speeding up. During his August keynote at the International Astronomical Union’s first meeting in Africa, hosted in Cape Town, Schmidt revealed what it takes to bag the fanciest award in the cosmos.

So, you want a Nobel medal? Let’s get one thing straight: there’s no “roadmap”. But if we could distil Schmidt’s humble, humanising story into a 12-step plan*, it would look something like this. 

(*Caution: These steps may result in nothing but a deeply satisfying life.)

Step 1: Be normal, be weird, be whatever


Forget being the “gifted child” or “prodigy” – the 2011 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics was a normal kid from the middle of nowhere in the western US. He spent his summers in abandoned houses among the mountains of Montana, far from the glamorous labs of academia. 

“I was a good student,” Schmidt told the crowd of students, researchers and some of his most esteemed colleagues. “But I was not a standout.”  

Start where you are and don’t think you have to be an anomaly. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RLaEOUuAPA

Watch Schmidt’s full presentation on the IAU’s YouTube page.  

Step 2: Make peace with uncertainty


Your career plan? Toss it out the window. 

“I did not have any intent of making astronomy a career,” says Schmidt, now also president-elect of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) — the world’s largest professional body of its kind. “It was a gateway for me to do something that I enjoyed … to learn hard things.”  

If you don’t know exactly where you’re heading, good. 

Step 3: Get a life, because ‘lives are first’


The elusive life-career balance wasn’t always Schmidt’s natural wheelhouse. 

“Don’t become addicted to just working and messing up the rest of your life,” he urges. “Many of us have done that, including myself, for part of my career.”

As an early-career researcher, he was challenged by a senior scientist: “You’re buying a house, but you only have a three-year postdoc, isn’t that rather adventurous?” 

“Well,” the young cosmologist quipped, “I’m not messing with my life because of astronomy.”  

Brian Schmidt, co-laureate of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, in an impromptu press interview at the IAU’s first general assembly in Africa on 12 August. (Photo: Tiara Walters) Brian Schmidt on 12 August in an impromptu press interview at the IAU’s first general assembly in Africa, Cape Town International Convention Centre. (Photo: Tiara Walters)


Step 4: ‘Confidence is everything’


Yes, it’s tempting to pick projects based on what will make you look impressive. Schmidt did that too. 

“That turned out to be a real stupid thing to do — when you start working on things because they’re good for your career, they’re not good for your career. They’re a distraction.”

None of this means ignoring risk, “but I do encourage you to back yourself to do what you think is right”.  

Step 5: Ignore good advice (sometimes)


Schmidt went to Harvard against everyone’s “expert” advice. 

“Harvard had gone through a lot, described as a pretty rough patch in terms of its PhD programme in the 1970s and 1980s. But when I visited there, it had a vibrant community I really liked.” 

Step 6: ‘Co-create, even if you think you’re not in a position of power’


When Schmidt’s PhD adviser handed him a topic he despised, he didn’t just dutifully trudge through it. He came up with a new idea, and guess what? His adviser thought it was brilliant. The more you do this, the closer you get to finding, and staying on, your path.

Step 7: ‘Your own time is the most valuable thing you have’


Time may stretch and warp across the universe, but to Schmidt, Earth’s time is unyielding — his most precious resource. To make the most of it, the astrophysicist advises focusing on deep, careful work rather than rushing through some artificial deadline. 

Don’t just work hard — if the moment calls for it, work deeply. “Quality over quantity. Always.”

Step 8: Even the smartest people need friends


Schmidt and his two lead collaborators, Professors Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter, worked with a team of more than 60 researchers to crack the accelerating expansion of the universe. 

No Nobel Prize is a solo act.

Step 9: Ignore the accolades – until you can’t


“I realised the universe seemed to be accelerating … on January 8, 1998,” he recalls. The discovery was announced in February that year.  

But Schmidt didn’t win his first award until 2000, showing that awards chase you only after years of relentless work. So, focus on the details. Screw the spotlight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgw6mz5bTG4

Brian Schmidt is interviewed by the Cosmic Savannah podcast during a live show hosted at the IAU event on August 14. 

Step 10: Run into, not away, the chaos of big luck


The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics hit Schmidt like a chocolate-filled “dump truck” hurtling through space. 

“Walking through Cambridge, you have Stephen Hawking wanting to talk to you … My cosmology class suddenly had 120 people instead of 24 … It’s very disrupting to your life.” 

The supernovae sleuth adds: “I knew we didn’t know what dark energy was and I just didn’t see a prize being given for something we understood so poorly.” 

Step 11: Don’t just aim to win, have a post-glory plan


Take it from Schmidt, the medal doesn’t solve it all. Post win, he floated from event to event, unsure of how to direct his energy.

“Think of a Nobel as a midlife crisis.” In case you think you’re off the hook: “We all have Nobel moments in life.”

So, he picked the toughest job he could find: running Australian National University (ANU), the institution that had employed him as a researcher. 

“This is a job where I finally found my limits as a human being,” he concedes. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ve got nothing left to give.’ That’s a nice place to be, but not a place you want to stay.”

Step 12: Be prepared to feel ‘stupid’ again


Schmidt wrapped up his eight-year ANU gig in December 2023. Now he’s back in research. 

“Feel pity,” he advises. “Don’t think I know everything, don’t think I know anything. I’m literally like a first-year graduate student relearning my field. And I’m loving it. It’s very scary, because you feel stupid, not knowing what’s going on again.” DM

Read more: Nobel Physics laureate Brian Schmidt urges Antarctic scientists to ‘push back’ against secretive geopolitics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeWvTRUpMk

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