Matthew J. Holman is an Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, a component of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where he is the Associate Director (Head) of the Theoretical Astrophysics Division. During his graduate studies at MIT, Holman developed, with Jack Wisdom, the symplectic maps for the n-body problem. These algorithms for numerically integrating the long-term trajectories of solar system bodies are an order of magnitude faster than conventional techniques and have now been adopted as a standard tool in the field of solar system dynamics.

Holman was awarded, with Norman Murray of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize in 2000, from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This prize is presented annually to the author or authors of an outstanding paper published in the journal Science.

Since joining the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Holman has been involved in ground-based and space-based searches for distant bodies in the outer solar system. He has participated in the discovery and tracking of irregular moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as dozens of Kuiper belt objects (comet-like object orbiting beyond Neptune), Holman is the leader of the Outer Solar System key project for the Pan-STARRS-1 Science Consortium. In addition, Holman has been involved in the characterization of transiting extrasolar planets and is a member of the Kepler Science Team.