Myron Mathisson

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Myron Mathisson (born December 15, 1897 in Warsaw , † September 13, 1940 in Cambridge ) was a Polish theoretical physicist and mathematician.

Life

Mathisson went to high school in Warsaw, where he received a gold medal upon graduation in 1915. He first studied civil engineering at the Polytechnic in Warsaw (whereby he financed himself as a draftsman) and from 1917 physics at the University of Warsaw , interrupted from military service from 1918 to 1920 when Poland was at war with Russia. He then continued his studies in Cracow and Kazan, but had to interrupt his studies again after the death of his father. In 1925 he received his doctorate with Czesław Białobrzeski (1878–1953) ( Sur le movement d'un corps tournant dans un champ de gravitation ). After that he made his living by doing calculations for civil engineers and translations (besides Polish, he spoke fluent Hebrew, Russian, German, English, French). In 1932 he completed his habilitation and was a private lecturer at the University of Warsaw. In 1936 he was a professor at Kazan University for a year . In 1937 he returned to Warsaw, but was only there for a few months (he was never permanently employed at the university). His work New Mechanics of Material Systems earned him international recognition ( Niels Bohr invited him to Copenhagen), and he received a grant to do research in Krakow , where Jan Weyssenhoff was in charge of theoretical physics. He stayed there for two years. In 1939 he made another trip abroad to Paris and Cambridge, where he came into contact with Paul Dirac , among others . Mathisson died of tuberculosis in Cambridge in 1940 . Dirac published his last work after Mathisson's death and wrote a short obituary in Nature.

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In his short career he published 10 scientific papers. His first work was devoted to the movement of bodies (also with spin ) in general relativity . Later he dealt with point theories of the classical electron, like Dirac at that time. The topic was topical at the time when it was recognized that divergences of a point particle in interaction with a field also occurred in quantum field theory and many theorists analyzed the classical theory in order to find ways out.

In mathematics, his work on Jacques Hadamard's problem is significant. Hadamard hypothesized that the only partial differential equation that satisfies Huygens' principle is the ordinary wave equation . Mathisson made the first major advance in the Hadamard problem. He gave a proof for four space-time dimensions assuming a flat Lorentz metric (and claimed to have proof in the general case). In the higher dimensions the assumption is wrong ( Karl-Ludwig Stellmacher gave counterexamples in the 1950s and Paul Günther gave a counterexample in the case of n = 4 ).

Fonts

  • The laws of inertia in general relativity. In: Z. Phys. 67 (1931), pp. 270-277.
  • The mechanics of the matter particle in the general theory of relativity. In: Z. Phys. 67: 826-844 (1931).
  • Motion problem of field physics and electron constants. In: Z. Phys. 69 (1931), pp. 389-408.
  • New mechanics of material systems. In: Acta Phys. Polonica. 6, pp. 163-200 (1937).
    • Reprinted in George FR Ellis , Malcolm AH MacCallum, Andrzej Krasinski (eds.) Golden Oldies in General Relativity. Hidden Gems. Springer Verlag 2013, with biography of Matthison by Andrzej Trautman (reprint also in General Relativity and Gravitation, Volume 42, 2010, pp. 2011–2048)
  • Metoda paremetrysy w zastosowaniu do hiperbolicznych układów równań. In: Prace matematyczno-fizyczne. 41 (1934), pp. 177-185.
  • The problem of M. Hadamard relatif à la diffusion des ondes. In: Acta Math. 71 (1939), pp. 249-282 and Compte Rendu Acad. Sci. 208 (1939), p. 1776.
  • A new method of solving differential equations of normal hyperbolic type. In: Mathematical Annals. Volume 107, 1932, pp. 400-419.
  • The trembling electron and its dynamics. In: Acta Physica Polonica. 6, pp. 218-227 (1937).
  • The variational equation of relativistic dynamics. In: Proc. Cambridge Philosophical Society. Volume 36, 1940, pp. 331-350.
  • Relativistic dynamics of a spinning magnetic particle. In: Proc. Cambridge Philosophical Society. Volume 38, 1940, pp. 40-60.

literature

  • Paul Dirac: Dr M. Mathisson. In: Nature. Volume 146, 1940, p. 613.
  • B. Sredniawa: Myron Mathisson's and Jan Weyssenhoff's work on the problem of motion in general relativity. In: Studies in the history of general relativity, Luminy 1988. Birkhäuser, 1992, pp. 400-406, 465.
  • B. Sredniawa: Theory of Relativity at the Jagellon University in Krakow in the first half of the century 1909-1959. In: Kwart. Hist. Nauk. Tech. Volume 24, Issue 4, 1979, pp. 759-788. (Polish)
  • Tilman Sauer , Andrzej Trautman Myron Mathisson: what little we know of his life , Acta Physica Polonica B, Proc. Suppl., 2008, 7-26, Arxiv

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nature. Volume 146, 1940, p. 613.
  2. ↑ The general problem asks which equations satisfy a Huygens problem
  3. ↑ S. Czapor, R. McLenaghan: Hadamard's a problem of diffusion of waves . In: Acta Physica Polonica B Proc. Suppl . tape 1 , 2008, p. 55–75 (English, edu.pl [PDF]).
personal data
SURNAME Mathisson, Myron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish mathematician and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1940
Place of death Cambridge