Myron Mathisson

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

Life

Mathison went to high school in Warsaw, where he was awarded a gold medal at his graduation in 1915. He studied Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute in Warsaw ( which he financed himself as a draftsman ) and from 1917 physics at the University of Warsaw, interrupted by military service from 1918 to 1920, when Poland was at war with Russia. He then continued his studies in Krakow and Kazan, had after the death of his father again interrupt his studies. In 1925 he earned his doctorate under Czeslaw Bialobrzeski ( 1878-1953 ) ( Sur le movement d'un corps dans un champ de tournant gravitation ). He then earned his living by calculations for engineers and translations ( he spoke Polish fluently in addition to Hebrew, Russian, German, English, French). In 1932 he completed his habilitation and was a lecturer at the University of Warsaw. In 1936 he spent a year as a professor at the University of Kazan. In 1937 he returned to Warsaw, but there was only a few months (he was also never been employed at the university). His work New mechanics of material systems gained him international recognition ( Niels Bohr invited him to Copenhagen ), and he received a scholarship to do research in Krakow, where January Weyssenhoff headed the theoretical physics. He remained there two years. In 1939 he undertook another trip abroad to Paris and Cambridge, where he came into contact with Paul Dirac, among others. Mathisson died in 1940 of tuberculosis in Cambridge. Dirac gave his last work out for Mathissons death and wrote a short obituary in Nature.

Work

In his short career he published 10 scientific papers. His first works were devoted ( with spin) in the general theory of relativity the motion of bodies. Later he dealt with point theories of the classical electron, as then also Dirac. The subject was then current, as it was recognized that differences of a point particle with a field occurred in interaction in quantum field theory and many theorists analyzed the classical theory to find ways out.

In mathematics, his work on the problem of Jacques Hadamard important. Hadamard conjectured that the only partial differential equation that satisfies the Huygens principle is the ordinary wave equation. Mathison scored the first significant progress in Hadamard problem. He gave a demonstration of four space-time dimensions under the assumption of a flat Lorentz metric ( and claimed to have a proof in the general case ). In higher dimensions, the conjecture is false ( counter-examples were Karl -Ludwig wheelwright in the 1950s and also in the case n = 4 PaulGünther gave a counter-example ).

Writings

• The steady-state laws in the general theory of relativity, Z. Phys. 67 (1931 ), 270-277.
• The mechanics of Materieteilchens in the general theory of relativity, Z. Phys. 67 (1931 ), 826-844.
• Problem of motion of the field and electron physics constants, Z. Phys. 69 (1931 ), 389-408.
• New mechanics of material systems, Acta Phys. Polonica 6 (1937 ), 163-200 Reprinted in George FR Ellis, Malcolm AH MacCallum, Andrzej Krasinski (ed.) Golden Oldies in General Relativity. Hidden Gems, Springer Verlag, 2013, with biography of Matthison of Andrzej Trautman (Reprint also in General Relativity and Gravitation, Volume 42, 2010, pp. 2011-2048 )