Andrzej Trautman
Encyclopedia
Andrzej Mariusz Trautman (born January 4, 1933) is a leading mathematical physicist who has made important contributions to classical gravitation
in general and to general relativity
in particular.
Trautman was born in Warsaw
, Poland
into an artistic family. His father, Mieczysław, was a painter and taught drawing at a secondary school in Warsaw
. His mother, Eliza Trautman (née André), was French
, though she was born in Spain
, where her father, Marius André, was working as a French consular officer. His schooling, at the elementary level, was interrupted by the Warsaw Uprising
of 1944. After spending about ten months in Germany, he returned, with his mother (his father had died in 1941) to Poland. In the fall of 1945, they both went to Paris, to stay with their family there. In France, Trautman attended a Polish secondary school from which he graduated in 1949 and returned to Poland shortly afterwards.
During the years 1949-55, he studied radio engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology
. After earning a Master's degree under the influence of Warsaw Tech's theoretical physics professor Jerzy Plebański
, he continued graduate work in Leopold Infeld's group at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of Warsaw University. This Institute was to become his permanent place of study and work.
Plebański suggested to Trautman to work on the problem of gravitational radiation. On the basis of that work, supervised also by Leopold Infeld
, he obtained in 1959 the Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Physics
of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Other early influences included Felix Pirani, Hermann Bondi
, Ezra Ted Newman
, Arthur Komar, Engelbert Schücking
, and Roger Penrose
.
Later, he was influenced by scientific contacts with André Lichnerowicz
, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
, Chen Ning Yang and Abdus Salam
. In 1960, Trautman and Ivor Robinson discovered an important family of exact solutions of the Einstein field equation, the Robinson-Trautman gravitational waves published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 4 pp. 431–432 (1960). Later he worked on the Einstein-Cartan theory of gravitation, Yang-Mills fields, and spinor
s on manifolds.
Trautman's doctoral students include the physicists M. Demiański, W. Kopczyński, J. Tafel, J. Sławianowski, J. Lewandowski, P. Nurowski and the well-known astrophysicists J. P. Lasota (now in Paris), and M. Abramowicz (now at Göteborg). Trautman is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
(PAN) and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU).
Gravitation
Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon by which physical bodies attract with a force proportional to their mass. Gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped...
in general and 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...
in particular.
Trautman was born in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
into an artistic family. His father, Mieczysław, was a painter and taught drawing at a secondary school in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. His mother, Eliza Trautman (née André), was French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, though she was born in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, where her father, Marius André, was working as a French consular officer. His schooling, at the elementary level, was interrupted by the Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
of 1944. After spending about ten months in Germany, he returned, with his mother (his father had died in 1941) to Poland. In the fall of 1945, they both went to Paris, to stay with their family there. In France, Trautman attended a Polish secondary school from which he graduated in 1949 and returned to Poland shortly afterwards.
During the years 1949-55, he studied radio engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
. After earning a Master's degree under the influence of Warsaw Tech's theoretical physics professor Jerzy Plebański
Jerzy Plebanski
Jerzy Franciszek Plebański Rosiński was a Polish theoretical physicist best known for his extensive research into general relativity and supergravity.-Sources:*...
, he continued graduate work in Leopold Infeld's group at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of Warsaw University. This Institute was to become his permanent place of study and work.
Plebański suggested to Trautman to work on the problem of gravitational radiation. On the basis of that work, supervised also by Leopold Infeld
Leopold Infeld
Leopold Infeld was a Polish physicist who worked mainly in Poland and Canada . He was a Rockefeller fellow at Cambridge University and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences....
, he obtained in 1959 the Ph.D. degree at the Institute of Physics
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Other early influences included Felix Pirani, Hermann Bondi
Hermann Bondi
Sir Hermann Bondi, KCB, FRS was an Anglo-Austrian mathematician and cosmologist. He is best known for developing the steady-state theory of the universe with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold as an alternative to the Big Bang theory, but his most lasting legacy will probably be his important...
, Ezra Ted Newman
Ezra T. Newman
Ezra Ted Newman is an American physicist, known for his many contributions to general relativity theory. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh...
, Arthur Komar, Engelbert Schücking
Engelbert Schücking
Engelbert Schücking is a physics professor at New York University in New York City. His research interests are theoretical astrophysics, general relativity and cosmology...
, and Roger Penrose
Roger Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...
.
Later, he was influenced by scientific contacts with André Lichnerowicz
André Lichnerowicz
André Lichnerowicz was a noted French differential geometer and mathematical physicist of Polish descent.-Biography:...
, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, FRS ) was an Indian origin American astrophysicist who, with William A. Fowler, won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics for key discoveries that led to the currently accepted theory on the later evolutionary stages of massive stars...
, Chen Ning Yang and Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam
Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk Mohammad Abdus Salam, NI, SPk (Urdu: محمد عبد السلام, pronounced , (January 29, 1926– November 21, 1996) was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his work on the electroweak unification of the...
. In 1960, Trautman and Ivor Robinson discovered an important family of exact solutions of the Einstein field equation, the Robinson-Trautman gravitational waves published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 4 pp. 431–432 (1960). Later he worked on the Einstein-Cartan theory of gravitation, Yang-Mills fields, and spinor
Spinor
In mathematics and physics, in particular in the theory of the orthogonal groups , spinors are elements of a complex vector space introduced to expand the notion of spatial vector. Unlike tensors, the space of spinors cannot be built up in a unique and natural way from spatial vectors...
s on manifolds.
Trautman's doctoral students include the physicists M. Demiański, W. Kopczyński, J. Tafel, J. Sławianowski, J. Lewandowski, P. Nurowski and the well-known astrophysicists J. P. Lasota (now in Paris), and M. Abramowicz (now at Göteborg). Trautman is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Polish Academy of Sciences
The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...
(PAN) and of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAU).