Toomre received B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in aeronautics and astronautics in 1963, and then went to England as a Marshall Scholar to receive a Ph.D. from Trinity College, University of Cambridge in applied mathematics and theoretical physics in 1967. He joined the New York University mathematics faculty in 1969, and then in 1972 came to the University of Colorado as an associate professor. Since 1975 Toomre has been a professor of astrophysics in APS (Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences) and a fellow of JILA (formerly the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics), University of Colorado, Boulder.
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.