Richard H. Price (born March 1, 1943) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

specializing in

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 ...

. Price graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1960, and went on to earn a dual degree in physics and engineering from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1965. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971 from

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 ...

under the supervision of

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 ...

. He spent his career from 1971 to 2004 at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, where he holds the title of Emeritus Professor. In 2004 he joined the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the

University of Texas at Brownsville , mottoeng = Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. , established = , closed = (merged with UT–Pan American to form The UTRGV) , type = Public State University , presid ...

. As of 2015 he became Senior Lecturer in physics at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. He is also on the adjunct faculty at the

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth or UMassD) is a public research university in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It is the southernmost campus of the University of Massachusetts system. Formerly Southeastern Massachusetts Un ...

.UMass Dartmouth faculty page
Retrieved 23 September 2017 In 2017, Price became the editor of the ''

American Journal of Physics The ''American Journal of Physics'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics. The editor-in-chief is Beth Parks of Colgate University."Current F ...

''. Price is probably best known for a 1972 result now known as Price's theorem. This is usually informally stated as follows: ''any inhomogeneities in the spacetime geometry outside a black hole will be radiated away''. (Any such inhomogeneities can be quantified as nonzero higher

multipole moment A multipole expansion is a mathematical series representing a function that depends on angles—usually the two angles used in the spherical coordinate system (the polar and azimuthal angles) for three-dimensional Euclidean space, \R^3. Similarly ...

s.) Price's theorem explains how the

no hair theorem The no-hair theorem states that all stationary black hole solutions of the Einstein–Maxwell equations of gravitation and electromagnetism in general relativity can be completely characterized by only three independent ''externally'' observabl ...

is enforced. Price also made pioneering numerical simulations which established (nonrigorously) a precise scenario for the emission of gravitational radiation during the merger of two compact objects (such as two black holes). Subsequent work has largely confirmed the scenario which was first developed in his work. These simulations have provided a major impetus for the development of gravitational wave detectors such as

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large ...

. He has done much in development of pedagogical techniques in physics at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoc levels; a significant portion at the

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah. He creates beautiful atlases of relativity. Price is the coauthor of three well known books in

. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Books

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References

External links

Richard Price home page
at University of Utah, Retrieved 23 September 2017

from Eric Weisstein's World of Physics
Price's theorem at University of Illinois, Chicago Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Richard H. 1943 births Living people 21st-century American physicists Stuyvesant High School alumni Cornell University College of Engineering alumni University of Utah faculty University of Texas at Brownsville faculty Physics educators Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Scientists from New York (state)