Edward Arthur Milne

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Edward Arthur Milne (born February 14, 1896 in Hull , Yorkshire , † September 21, 1950 in Dublin ) was an English mathematician and astrophysicist .

life and work

He studied at Trinity College (Cambridge) , where he was also a fellow from 1919 to 1925 . 1924–1928 he was Professor of Applied Mathematics at Victoria University (Manchester) . In 1935 he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society . In 1941 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society . From 1943 to 1945 he was President of the Royal Astronomical Society . A moon crater is named after Milne .

Milne developed a theory of the expanding universe using only the special theory of relativity. He started from the homogeneity and isotropy of the universe, according to which the universe appears the same on average for every observer. In 1933 he formulated this explicitly as a cosmological principle .

Due to the factual uniqueness of our universe, Milne made methodical criticism of the general theory of relativity , as it allows a large number of cosmological models. In relativistic physics, local laws, which are established in laboratory physics, are used to infer the global whole of the universe by asking about the suitable initial and boundary conditions. According to Milne, however, our unique, factual universe must be assumed in order to obtain the local laws through deductive derivation. Therefore, according to Milne, a cosmological theory can only be compatible with a single model. Such a model is also more easily falsifiable, while general-relativistic models are ultimately not even falsifiable , since they comply with local laws (which can be confirmed as often as required by repeatable laboratory experiments), but an experimental check in a cosmological framework due to the uniqueness of the universe is not possible, as it cannot be prepared in the laboratory as often as desired.

membership

In 1947, Milne was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Works

  • Thermodynamics of the Stars (1930)
  • The White Dwarf Stars (1932)
  • Relativity, Gravitation and World-Structure (1935)
  • Kinematic Relativity (1948)
  • Modern Cosmology and the Christian Idea of ​​God (1952)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved October 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Milne, Edward Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English mathematician and astrophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston upon Hull , Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1950
Place of death Dublin