Jürgen Ehlers

Jürgen Ehlers

Jürgen Ehlers (29 December 1929 – 20 May 2008) was a German physicist who contributed to the understanding of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. He was the founding director of the newly created Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. He died of a heart attack at the age of 80.

About Jürgen Ehlers in brief

Summary Jürgen EhlersJürgen Ehlers (29 December 1929 – 20 May 2008) was a German physicist who contributed to the understanding of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. He was the founding director of the newly created Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. Ehlers’ research focused on the foundations ofgeneral relativity as well as on the theory’s applications to astrophysics. He formulated a suitable classification of exact solutions to Einstein’s field equations and proved the Ehlers–Geren–Sachs theorem that justifies the application of simple, general-relativistic model universes to modern cosmology. He also created a spacetime-oriented description of gravitational lensing. In addition, Ehlers had a keen interest in both the history and philosophy of physics and was an ardent populariser of science. He died of a heart attack at the age of 80. He is survived by his wife, two children and a stepson. His work is published in the book, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, by Pascual Jordan, with a pre-print edition published by Springer, with an online version available for download from the German edition of the journal Spektrum der der Wissenschaft. The book is also published in English by Springer and is available in the U.S. by the publisher, Simon & Schuster, with the option of a subscription for $1.99 per copy.

The German edition is published by Elsevier, which has a print run of 1,000,000 copies of the book. It is available for pre-order in the US for $10.99. The UK edition is available from £8.99 (including p&p) and £10.50 (with a p&P discount). For more information, visit www.springer.com/Einstein- Theory-of-Relativity-ebooks. For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. In the UK, call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 0800 555 111 or click here for details on how to get in contact with Samaritans in the UK and the rest of the world. The Samaritans can also be contacted on 020 8345 90 90, or via their website, www. Samaritans.co.uk. In the US, call 1-800-273-8255 or visit the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a visiting professor from 1965 to 1971. In 1970, he joined the Max Plank Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich as the director of its gravitational theory department. In 1971, he became an adjunct professor at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University. On 31 December 1998, he retired to become an emeritus director at the institute. On 1 April 1995, with Ehlers as its founding director and leader of its department, he started a second department devoted to gravitational wave research and headed by Bernard Schutz.