Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Video | Business Headlines | Internet | Science | Scientific Ethics | Technology | Search

 

Top US university author to feature UoC expert in book

Top US university author to feature University of Canterbury physics expert in a book

April 20, 2014

A professor from the world’s number one rated university will have her book published next year featuring University of Canterbury physics expert Professor Roy Kerr.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Professor Marcia Bartusiak will release her book, in honour of the 100th anniversary of general relativity.

The book, The Biography of a Black Hole: How the Most Hated Idea in Physics Came To Be Embraced,

will highlight the achievements of Canterbury Emeritus Professor Roy Kerr who last year became the first New Zealander to receive the Einstein Medal from the Albert Einstein Society in Switzerland.

The medal was first awarded to Stephen Hawking in 1979 and, since then, many distinguished scientists have received the medal including six Nobel laureates.

Professor Kerr discovered a specific solution to Einstein’s field equations which describes a structure now termed a Kerr black hole.

The Kerr Solution has come to be regarded as the most important exact solution to any equation in physics and has been pivotal in understanding the most violent and energetic phenomena in the universe.

Kerr has made other significant contributions to general relativity theory, but the discovery of the Kerr black hole was so remarkable as to compare with the discovery in physics of a new elementary particle with more than 100 million trillion black holes in the observable universe, his achievement has been of crucial importance for science.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

Professor Bartusiak says she has written about the 50 long years it took for the black hole to get accepted as a real object in the universe.

``I spend a chapter in the book on Roy Kerr's historic work in 1963 in finding the solution for a rotating black hole from Einstein's equations of general relativity.

``It was a watershed moment in the field, one that led to great advances in modelling the holes later found in the universe.

``Relativists around the globe were in awe of his accomplishment and today recognise it as one of the greatest achievements of their field. Nobel laureate in physics Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar called this discovery the most shattering experience of his scientific life. Kerr's solution provides the absolutely exact representation of untold numbers of massive black holes that populate the universe.’’

Professor Bartusiak’s account of Kerr's accomplishment will be featured in her book to be published by Yale University Press.

Ends

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Business Headlines | Sci-Tech Headlines

 
GenPro: General Practices Begin Issuing Clause 14 Notices

GenPro has been copied into a rising number of Clause 14 notices issued since the NZNO lodged its Primary Practice Pay Equity Claim against General Practice employers in December 2023.More

SPADA: Screen Industry Unites For Streaming Platform Regulation & Intellectual Property Protections

In an unprecedented international collaboration, representatives of screen producing organisations from around the world have released a joint statement.More

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.