Clifford Martin Will (born 1946) is a Canadian-born

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 ...

noted for his contributions to

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics ...

Life and work

Will was born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. In 1968, he earned a B.Sc. from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

. At

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, he studied under

Kip Thorne Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Richard P. F ...

, earning his Ph.D. in 1971. He has taught at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and Stanford University, and in 1981 joined the faculty of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. In 2012, he moved to a faculty position at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. Will's theoretical work has centered on

Post-Newtonian expansion In general relativity, the post-Newtonian expansions (PN expansions) are used for finding an approximate solution of the Einstein field equations for the metric tensor. The approximations are expanded in small parameters which express orders of ...

s of approximate solutions to the

Einstein field equation In the general theory of relativity, the Einstein field equations (EFE; also known as Einstein's equations) relate the geometry of spacetime to the distribution of matter within it. The equations were published by Einstein in 1915 in the form ...

, a notoriously difficult area which forms the theoretical underpinnings essential for such achievements as the indirect verification by

Russell Hulse Russell Alan Hulse (born November 28, 1950) is an American physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with his thesis advisor Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr., "''for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up n ...

and Joseph Taylor of the existence of gravitational radiation from observations of a

binary pulsar A binary pulsar is a pulsar with a binary companion, often a white dwarf or neutron star. (In at least one case, the double pulsar PSR J0737-3039, the companion neutron star is another pulsar as well.) Binary pulsars are one of the few objects ...

. Will's book reviewing experimental tests of general relativity is widely regarded as the essential resource for research in this area; his popular book on the same subject was listed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as one of the 200 best books published in 1986. Will was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1996–1997. From 2009 to 2018, Will was the editor-in-chief of IOP Publishing's journal

Classical and Quantum Gravity ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'' is a peer-reviewed journal that covers all aspects of gravitational physics and the theory of spacetime. Its scope includes: *Classical general relativity *Applications of relativity *Experimental gravitation ...

Honors and awards

He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1989 and elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007. In 2019, Will received the

Albert Einstein Medal The Albert Einstein Medal is an award presented by the Albert Einstein Society in Bern. First given in 1979, the award is presented to people for "scientific findings, works, or publications related to Albert Einstein" each year. Recipients ...

, awarded each year since 1979 by the

Albert Einstein Society The Albert Einstein Society was founded by Dr. Max Flückiger on 28 June 1977. Based in Bern, Switzerland, the society awards the Einstein Medal

Bibliographic information

According to the NASA ADS database, the

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as ...

of Prof. Will is 57.

Selected works

* * * (original publication date 1986) * * *

References

External links

*
Clifford Will Interview: Black holes – the (w)hole storyPublications of Clifford Martin Will
in the database

SPIRES The Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) is a database management system developed by Stanford University. It is used by universities, colleges and research institutions. The first website in North America was created to allow re ...

arXiv.org preprints for C. Willsearch on author Clifford Will
from

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Will, Clifford Martin 1946 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Canadian physicists American relativity theorists People from Hamilton, Ontario McMaster University alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Stanford University faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Physicists from Missouri Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Mathematical physicists Sloan Research Fellows Washington University physicists Albert Einstein Medal recipients Fellows of the American Physical Society University of Florida faculty