William Morris Kinnersley
Encyclopedia
William Morris Kinnersley is an American
physicist
who is well known for his contributions to general relativity
.
Kinnersley earned his Ph.D. from Caltech
in 1968, under the direction of Kip Thorne
. In 1969 he published the famous Kinnersley photon rocket, an exact null dust solution
to the Einstein field equation which represents a massive object which accelerates from the recoil of massless radiation which it emits. This solution remains one of the few known exact solutions with clear physical interpretations, and in consequence it is widely cited as an important breakthrough. In 1978, Kinnersley, C. Hoenselaers, and Basilis C. Xanthopoulos
published an important solution generating method for solving the Einstein field equation.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
who is well known for his contributions to general relativity
General relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
.
Kinnersley earned his Ph.D. from Caltech
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
in 1968, under the direction of Kip Thorne
Kip Thorne
Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist, known for his prolific contributions in gravitation physics and astrophysics and for having trained a generation of scientists...
. In 1969 he published the famous Kinnersley photon rocket, an exact null dust solution
Null dust solution
In mathematical physics, a null dust solution is a Lorentzian manifold in which the Einstein tensor is null...
to the Einstein field equation which represents a massive object which accelerates from the recoil of massless radiation which it emits. This solution remains one of the few known exact solutions with clear physical interpretations, and in consequence it is widely cited as an important breakthrough. In 1978, Kinnersley, C. Hoenselaers, and Basilis C. Xanthopoulos
Basilis C. Xanthopoulos
Basilis C. Xanthopoulos was a Greek theoretical physicist, well known in the field of general relativity for his contributions to the study of colliding plane waves....
published an important solution generating method for solving the Einstein field equation.