Felix Pirani
Felix Pirani | |
---|---|
Born | England | 2 February 1928
Died | 31 December 2015 Carnegie Institute of Technology University of Cambridge | (aged 87)
Known for | General relativity Gravitational wave solution |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physicist |
Institutions | King's College London |
Doctoral advisors | Alfred Schild Hermann Bondi |
Doctoral students | Valentine Joseph Peter Szekeres |
Felix Arnold Edward Pirani (2 February 1928 – 31 December 2015) was a British theoretical physicist, and professor at
During the last half of the 20th century Pirani was politically active, studied disarmament and advocated the responsible use of science.[2][10][11]
His most famous scientific results include works on the physical meaning of the
Early life and education
Pirani was born in England, to parents who were both musicians.
Scientific work
Pirani performed post-doctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin. In 1958 he started teaching at King's College London (where Bondi was also teaching) and in 1968 became professor of rational mechanics there.[12][4][10]
In 1957 Pirani independently discovered what was later called the Petrov classification (also Petrov–Pirani–Penrose classification) and separately discovered by Petrov in 1954.[4]
In 1959 Bondi, Pirani and Ivor Robinson published a fundamental paper on gravitational wave solutions in general relativity and showed the existence of plane gravitational wave solutions.[8] Pirani's work with Bondi and Robinson resulted in correspondence between Pirani and Albert Einstein, some of whose partially expressed views on the subject had been challenged by the paper.[13][14][15]
In 1972 Pirani, Jürgen Ehlers and Alfred Schild showed that the space-time geometry of general relativity can be constructed from simple measuring processes with light beams and free-falling particles.[16]
Popular books
In 1960 Pirani revised the general audience book "The ABC of Relativity", originally written by
Political views
Pirani was politically active in the 1970s and 1980s, had a left leaning stance, and opposed the unchecked use of science for military purposes.[2][10] [20] Along with DNA pioneer Maurice Wilkins, who was also at King's, Pirani was involved in the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science.[10][21]
In 1971 Pirani told the New Scientist that during an academic visit to the University of North Carolina issues about slavery and the American Civil War "hit him in the face" and upon his return to England he joined the Scientists of the Left and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and became a political activist.[10] Pirani studied disarmament and founded the Science Forum as a group of scientists that met monthly in London to discuss the social problems of science.[11] Pirani's efforts were based on his view that the public belief that "science will solve the world's problems" is a delusion because funding for research comes from the top levels of the social hierarchy, which controls the direction of scientific progress for its own purposes.[10]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Felix Pirani obituary". The Guardian. 4 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Obituary of Felix Pirani". The Daily Telegraph. 10 February 2016.
- ^ Memorial to Felix Pirani – The Muchloved Community
- ^ a b c d e f g American Institute of Physics Dean Rickles interview in Institute of Physics history June 2011
- Bibcode:1956AcPP...15..389P
- S2CID 121457672
- ^ S2CID 122766998.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - S2CID 121994014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gerald Wick, "Activism with feeling" New Scientist and Science Journal 11 February 1971, pp 311–312
- ^ a b New Scientist 20 December 1962, pp 699
- ^ David Robinson, Gravitation and general relativity at King's College London, European Physical Journal H 44, pp 181–270 (2019)
- ISBN 978-0415937153pp 29
- ^ "A Century Ago, Einstein's Theory of Relativity Changed Everything". The New York Times. 24 November 2015.
- ^ Princeton University Albert Einstein Archives Pirani Correspondence with Einstein
- ^ Ehlers, Pirani, Schild The geometry of free fall and light propagation, in O'Raifeartaigh (Herausgeber) General Relativity. Papers in Honor of J. L. Synge, Oxford University Press 1972, S. 63–84
- ISBN 978-0451609939
- ISBN 978-1874166061
- ISBN 978-2080680334
- ^ Richard Fifield, New Scientist 27 August 1981, pp 533
- ISBN 978-0816190027pp xxviii
External links
- Felix Pirani at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Christina Sormani; C. Denson Hill; Paweł Nurowski; ISSN 1088-9477.