Achille Papapetrou ( el, Αχιλλέας Νικολάου Παπαπέτρου; February 2, 1907 – August 12, 1997) was a Greek

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experime ...

, who contributed to the

general theory of relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...

. He is known for the

Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations In physics, specifically general relativity, the Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations describe the motion of a massive spinning body moving in a gravitational field. Other equations with similar names and mathematical forms are the Mathisson� ...

, the Majumdar–Papapetrou solution, and the Weyl−Lewis−Papapetrou coordinates of gravity theory. He worked on exact solutions of Einstein's field equations and long sought a solution for rotating masses, which, however, were only found by

Roy Kerr Roy Patrick Kerr (; born 16 May 1934) is a New Zealand mathematician who discovered the Kerr geometry, an exact solution to the Einstein field equation of general relativity. His solution models the gravitational field outside an uncharged ...

. Papapetrou was then the first who recognized and jubilantly welcomed Kerr's breakthrough announced at the

Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics Ivor Robinson (October 7, 1923 – May 27, 2016) was a British-American mathematical physicist, born and educated in England, noted for his important contributions to the theory of relativity. He was a principal organizer of the Texas Symposium o ...

, Dallas, December 1963.

Early life and education

Papapetrou was born in Irakleia Serres in Northern Greece (Macedonia province), on February 2, 1907. His father was a schoolteacher. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, his family was deported from Serres, but returned at the end of the war. From 1925, Papapetrou studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the

National Technical University of Athens The National (Metsovian) Technical University of Athens (NTUA; el, Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο, ''National Metsovian Polytechnic''), sometimes known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest higher education institution ...

, graduating in 1930. While a student, he was an assistant in the mathematics department, and he started work as an engineer.

Research

His start in physics, in 1934, was through graduate studies on solid state physics under

Paul Peter Ewald Paul Peter Ewald, FRS (January 23, 1888 in Berlin, Germany – August 22, 1985 in Ithaca, New York) was a German crystallographer and physicist, a pioneer of X-ray diffraction methods. Education Ewald received his early education in the clas ...

enabled through a scholarship, at the Technical University of Stuttgart. While there, he started working with

Helmut Hönl Helmut Hönl (February 10, 1903 in Mannheim, Germany – March 29, 1981 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions to quantum mechanics and the understanding of atomic and molecular structure. Biogra ...

, who was instrumental in the development of his interest in

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...

. In 1935, he earned his PhD there, with a dissertation on ''Investigations on the dendrite growth of crystals'', and subsequently returned to the Technical University in Athens as an assistant in electrical engineering. In 1940−1946, he was professor of physics at the

, where he gave seminars on the

, and worked in relative isolation during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

of that country. After the end of the war, and in the preamble to the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

that followed, he was fired from that post for his sympathies with the left-leaning resistance movement. As a result, in 1946, he moved to the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

at the invitation of

Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (, ; ; 12 August 1887 – 4 January 1961), sometimes written as or , was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian physicist with Irish citizenship who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theo ...

, with whom he worked on unified field theories. From 1948 on, he worked at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

where he was a colleague of Leon Rosenfeld and worked on the equations of motion of GR, as well as the equations of motion of particles with spin in GR. In 1952–1961 he was a researcher at the Research Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences in East Berlin, and from 1957 professor at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

where, among others, Georg Dautcourt and Hans-Jürgen Treder were his pupils. During 1960–61, he was visiting a group of relativity theorists, including

André Lichnerowicz André Lichnerowicz (January 21, 1915, Bourbon-l'Archambault – December 11, 1998, Paris) was a noted French differential geometer and mathematical physicist of Polish descent. He is considered the founder of modern Poisson geometry. Biograp ...

and

Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (; born 29 December 1923) is a French mathematician and physicist. She has made seminal contributions to the study of Einstein's general theory of relativity, by showing that the Einstein equations can be put into the form o ...

. From 1962 he was at the Institute Henri Poincaré (IHP) in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. At the same time, he was research director of CNRS. Among others, he worked on elastic waves in gravitational radiation detectors, shells of matter and their gravitational collapse, the Newman−Penrose formalism and its identities, stationary axially symmetric gravitational fields, and gravitational and electromagnetic radiation fields. In 1975, he became Director of the IHP Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, and in 1977 he retired, remaining scientifically active. He was a visiting scientist at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

(1964–65), the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

(1970–71), and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

(1972). He later took French citizenship. From 1971 on, he was one of the organizing committee members of the international conferences on general relativity and gravitation (GRG). He died in

, on August 12, 1997. Obituary

Selected works

Papapetrou has published two books, * A. Papapetrou, ''Spezielle Relativitatstheorie'', VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1967 * A. Papapetrou, ''Lectures on General Relativity'', D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974. and over a hundred papers, including: * H. Hönl and A. Papapetrou, ''Über die Selbstenergie und das Gravitationsfeld einer elektrischen Punktladung'', ''Z f Phys'' 112 (1939) 65; doi
10.1007/BF01325637
* H. Hönl and A. Papapetrou, ''Über die innere Bewegung des Elektrons. I.'', ''Z f Phys'' 112 (1939) 512; doi
10.1007/BF01341246
* A. Papapetrou and H. Hönl, ''Über die innere Bewegung des Elektrons. II'', ''Z f Phys'' 114 (1939) 478; doi
10.1007/BF01329528
* H. Hönl and A. Papapetrou, ''Über die innere Bewegung des Elektrons. III.'', ''Z f Phys'' ''116'' (1940) 153; doi
10.1007/BF01337382
* A. Papapetrou, ''Gravitationswirkungen zwischen Pol-Dipol-Teilchen'', ''Z f Phys'' ''116'' (1940) 298; doi
10.1007/BF01341450
* Α. Papapetrou, E. Schrödinger, ''The Point-Charge in the Non-symmetric Field Theory'', ''Nature'' 168 (1951) 40; doi

* Α. Papapetrou, ''A static solution of the equations of the gravitational field for an arbitrary charge distribution.'', ''Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.'' A 51 (1948) 191 * A. Papapetrou, ''Spinning test particles in general relativity.'', ''I. Proc. R. Soc.'' A 64, 248–258 (1952) * A. Papapetrou, ''Eine rotationssymmetrische Lösung in der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie'', ''Ann. Phys.'' (Leipzig) 12, 309–315 (1953) * A. Papapetrou, ''Quelques remarques sur les champs gravitationnels stationnaires.'' ''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris'' 257, 2797–2800 (1963) * A. Papapetrou, ''Champs gravitationnels stationnaires à symétrie axiale.'' ''C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris'' 285, 90–93 (1964) * A. Papapetrou, ''Champs gravitationnels stationnaires à symétrie axiale.'' ''Ann. Inst. Henri Poincare'' IV, 83–105 (1966) * A. Papapetrou, ''Eine rotationssymmetrische Lösung in der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie,'' ''Ann. Phys.'' (Leipzig) 12, 309–315 (1953) * A. Papapetrou, ''Eine Theorie des Gravitationsfeldes mit einer Feldfunktion'', ''Z f Phys'' 139 (1954) 518; doi
10.1007/BF01374560

References

External links

*
Papapetrou's Mathematical genealogy project entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papapetrou, Achilles 1907 births 1997 deaths People from Salonica vilayet Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Greek Macedonians Greek expatriates in France 20th-century Greek physicists Relativity theorists National Technical University of Athens alumni Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin People from Irakleia, Serres Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Early life and education

Research

Selected works

See also

References

External links