Pantur Silaban | |
---|---|
Born |
Sidikalang, Dairi Indonesia |
11 November 1937
Died | - |
Residence |
Sumatera (Sidikalang) Syracuse (United States) Bandung (Indonesia) |
Citizenship | Indonesian |
Nationality | Indonesia |
Fields | Physics, theory of relativity, quantum theory |
Institutions | Bandung Institute of Technology |
Alma mater |
Bandung Institute of Technology Syracuse University |
Thesis | [[1] Null Tetrad, Formulation of the Equation of Motion in General Relativity] (1971) |
Doctoral advisor | Peter G. Bergmann |
Known for | Theory of General Relativity |
Spouse | Rugun br. Lumbantoruan |
Children | Anna Ruth Sarah Mary |
Pantur Silaban is one of the foremost physicists in Indonesia, especially in the field of theoretical physics. He is also one of the earliest physicists from ASEAN countries who studied Einstein's general relativity theories in depth.
Born in Sumatra to Israel Silaban and Regina Lumbantoruan in Dairi village in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Silaban finished his bachelor's degree in physics from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia in 1964.
In 1967, he went to United States to study General Relativity theory at Central Studies of Gravitation at Syracuse University under direction of Peter Bergmann and Joshua N. Goldberg whom were among the authoritative experts in general relativity after the inventor, Albert Einstein. Here, Pantur went furthermore studied one of the hottest topics in physics at the time which tried to unify quantum field and general relativity to find quantum gravity theory. It is one of Einstein's dream which had tried but failed to formalize the fourth interaction in the universe into one single theory called Grand Unified Theory.
Instead of insisting to work on quantum gravity, Pantur eventually followed the advice of Goldberg to change the subject for his dissertation: to amputate the principle of General Relativity using Poincare Group to find a physical quantity that is conserved in gravitational radiation. These findings confirmed to the Big Bang as a model for the formation of the Universe than the other models. Pantur finished his dissertation with title "Null Tetrad, Formulation of the Equation of Motion in General Relativity" in 1971.
Three years later Joshua Goldberg - who produces many important physics treatises published in major journals such as Physical Review D, Journal of Mathematical Physics, and Journal of Geometrical Physics - referred to Pantur's work on his paper, Conservation Equations and Equations of Motion in the Null Formalism. Another works that have citations to Pantur's dissertation including papers by world-renowned physicists, Hermann Bondi and Roger Penrose.