Achilles Papapetrou
| Achille Papapetrou | |
|---|---|
| Born | Achille Papapetrou February 2, 1907 Serres, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Greece) |
| Died | August 12, 1997 (aged 90) Paris, France |
| Citizenship | Greece, France |
| Fields |
Theoretical Physics General relativity |
| Institutions | National Technical University of Athens, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Manchester, Humboldt University of Berlin |
| Alma mater | National Technical University of Athens |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Peter Ewald |
| Doctoral students | Hans-Jürgen Treder, Georg Dautcourt, Rodolfo Gambini |
| Known for | Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations, Majumdar–Papapetrou solution, Weyl−Lewis−Papapetrou coordinates |
| Spouse | Koula |
Achille Papapetrou (Greek: Αχιλλέας Νικολάου Παπαπέτρου; February 2, 1907 – August 12, 1997) was a Greek theoretical physicist, who contributed to the Theory of General Relativity. He is known for the Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations, the Majumdar–Papapetrou solution, and the Weyl−Lewis−Papapetrou coordinates of gravity theory.
He worked on exact solutions of Einstein's field equations and long sought a solution for rotating masses, which, however, were only found by Roy Kerr. Papapetrou was then the first who recognized and jubilantly welcomed Kerr's breakthrough announced at the Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Dallas, December 1963.
Papapetrou was born near Serres, in the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (present-day Northern Greece, Macedonia province), on February 2, 1907. His father was a schoolteacher. During World War I, his family was deported from Serres, but returned at the end of the war.
From 1925, Papapetrou studied mechanical and electrical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, graduating in 1930. While a student, he was an assistant in the mathematics department, and he started work as an engineer.
His start in physics, in 1934, was through graduate studies on solid state physics under Paul Peter Ewald enabled through a scholarship, at the Technical University of Stuttgart. While there, he started working with Helmut Hönl, who was instrumental in the development of his interest in theory of relativity. In 1935, he earned his PhD there, with a dissertation on Investigations on the dendrite growth of crystals, and subsequently returned to the Technical University in Athens as an assistant in electrical engineering.
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