Hermann Bondi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1919-11-01)1 November 1919 |
| Died | 10 September 2005(2005-09-10) (aged 85) |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education | Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A.,[3] 1940)[4] |
| Known for | Steady State theory Sticky bead argument Bondi accretion Bondi k-calculus Bondi mass Bondi–Metzner–Sachs group Lemaître–Tolman–Bondi metric Atheism[5][6] |
| Awards | Gold Medal of the RAS(2001) Gold Medal of the IMA(1988) Albert Einstein Medal(1983) Guthrie Medal(1973) James Scott Prize Lectureship(1960–1963) Order of the Bath(1973) Fellow of the Royal Society(1959)[1] |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics Physical cosmology |
| Institutions | King's College London University of Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | Harold Jeffreys[1] Arthur Eddington[2] |
| Doctoral students | Felix Pirani Roger Tayler[2] |
| 3rd Master ofChurchill College, Cambridge | |
| In office 1983–1990 | |
| Preceded by | Sir William Hawthorne |
| Succeeded by | Lord Broers |
Sir Hermann BondiKCB FRS[1] (1 November 1919 – 10 September 2005)[7] was anAustrian-Britishmathematician andcosmologist.
He is best known for developing thesteady state model of the universe withFred Hoyle andThomas Gold as an alternative to theBig Bang theory. He contributed to the theory ofgeneral relativity,[8][9][10][11] and was the first to analyze theinertial and gravitational interaction ofnegative mass[12] and the first to explicate correctly the nature ofgravitational waves.[9] In his 1990 autobiography, Bondi regarded the 1962 work on gravitational waves[9] as his "best scientific work".[13]: 79
Bondi was born inVienna, the son of a Jewish medical doctor. He was brought up inVienna, where he studied at theRealgymnasium. He showed early prodigious ability at mathematics, and was recommended toArthur Eddington byAbraham Fraenkel. Fraenkel was a distant relation, the only mathematician in the extended family and Hermann's mother had the foresight to arrange a meeting between her young son and the famous man knowing that this might be the key to enabling him to follow his wishes and become a mathematician himself. Eddington encouraged him to travel to England to read the mathematicaltripos atTrinity College, Cambridge. He arrived inCambridge in 1937, escaping fromantisemitism in Austria. Realizing the perilous position of his parents in 1938, shortly before theAnschluss, he sent them atelegram telling them to leave Austria at once. They managed to reachSwitzerland and subsequently settled in New York.[citation needed]
In the early years of World War II, he wasinterned on theIsle of Man and inCanada as afriendly enemy alien. Other internees includedThomas Gold andMax Perutz. In 1940, Bondi becameSenior Wrangler at the University of Cambridge. Bondi and Gold were released from internment by the end of 1941, and worked withFred Hoyle onradar at theAdmiralty Signals Establishment. He became a British subject in 1946.[citation needed]
Bondi lectured in mathematics in the University of Cambridge from 1945 to 1954. He was a fellow of Trinity College from 1943 to 1949 and from 1952 to 1954.[citation needed]
In 1948, Hermann Bondi,Fred Hoyle andThomas Gold formulated theSteady State theory, which holds that the universe is constantly expanding but matter is constantly created to form new stars and galaxies to maintain a constant average density. Steady State theory was eclipsed by the rival Big Bang theory with the discovery of thecosmic microwave background (CMB).[citation needed]
Bondi was one of the first to correctly appreciate the nature ofgravitational radiation, introducing Bondi radiation coordinates, theBondi k-calculus, the notions ofBondi mass andBondi news, and writing review articles. He popularized thesticky bead argument which was said to be originally due, anonymously, toRichard Feynman, for the claim that physically meaningful gravitational radiation is indeed predicted by general relativity, an assertion which was controversial up until about 1955. A 1947 paper revived interest in theLemaître–Tolman metric,[8] an inhomogeneous, spherically symmetricdust solution (often called the LTB or Lemaître–Tolman–Bondi metric). Bondi also contributed to the theory ofaccretion of matter from a cloud of gas onto astar or ablack hole, working withRaymond Lyttleton and giving his name to "Bondi accretion" and the "Bondi radius".[citation needed]
He became a professor inKing's College London in 1954 and was appointedEmeritus Professor there in 1985.[14] He was secretary of theRoyal Astronomical Society from 1956 to 1964.
Bondi was also active outside the confines of academic lecturing and research. He held many positions:
He became a fellow of theRoyal Society in 1959.[1] He made a series of television programs calledE=mc2 for the BBC in 1963. He was appointed aKnight Commander of the Bath in 1973. He was awarded the Einstein Society Gold Medal in 1983, theGold Medal of theInstitute of Mathematics and its Applications in 1988,[15] the G.D. Birla International Award for Humanism, and theGold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2001. He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by theUniversity of Bath in 1974.[16]
His report into the flooding of London in 1953 led eventually to the building of theThames Barrier. He also supported the proposal for aSevern Barrage to generate electricity, but this project was not carried forward.
His papers from 1940 to 2000 are archived in 109 archive boxes by theJanus Project.[17]
His parents wereJewish, but he never "felt the need for religion" and was a lifelonghumanist. He was president of theBritish Humanist Association from 1982 to 1999, and president of theRationalist Press Association from 1982. He was one of the signers of theHumanist Manifesto.[18]
He married Christine Stockman, also a mathematician and astronomer, in 1947; she had been one of Hoyle's research students and like him she went on to be active in the humanist movement. Together, they had two sons and three daughters, one of whom is Professor Liz Bondi, feminist geographer at the University of Edinburgh. He died at Cambridge in 2005, aged 85[19] and his ashes were scattered atAnglesey Abbey near Cambridge. Christine died in 2015.
The 1962 paper I regard as the best scientific work I have ever done, which is later in life than mathematicians supposedly peak.
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| Preceded by | Master ofChurchill College 1983–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Special relativity |
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| General relativity |
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