Zurich, summer 1912. Albert Einstein has just returned from Prague to the city on the Limmat. He sends a plea for help to his former fellow student, the mathematician Marcel Grossmann (1878-1936), for he is in need of assistance with the mathematical calculations of his general theory of relativity. What then follows is one of the most fascinating chapters of science history, with far-reaching consequences for the lives of the two friends. Marcel Grossmann’s granddaughter paints here a picture of a fiery and many-talented scientist and patriot. She traces the influence of an entrepreneurial family during Germany’s rapid industrial expansion in the late 19th century. The family’s fluctuating fortunes take the story to the vibrant city of Budapest on the Danube; they enable readers to sense the pioneering spirit at Zurich’s young Polytechnic Institute (now ETH Zurich) – but also reflect the worries and hardships of the First World War and interwar years. The Foreword is written by Prof. Remo Ruffini, founder and president of the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and the Marcel Grossmann Meetings. Last but not least, an extensive contribution by Dr. Tilman Sauer offers a scientific-historical appreciation of Marcel Grossmann’s enduring contributions.
The Marcel Grossmann Meetings seek to further the development of the foundations and applications of Einstein's general relativity by promoting theoretical understanding in the relevant fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics and to direct future technological, observational, and experimental efforts. The meetings discuss recent developments in classical and quantum aspects of gravity, and in cosmology and relativistic astrophysics, with major emphasis on mathematical foundations and physical predictions, having the main objective of gathering scientists from diverse backgrounds for deepening our understanding of spacetime structure and reviewing the current state of the art in the theory, observations and experiments pertinent to relativistic gravitation. The range of topics is broad, going from the more abstract classical theory, quantum gravity, branes and strings, to more concrete relativistic astrophysics observations and modeling.The three volumes of the proceedings of MG13 give a broad view of all aspects of gravitational physics and astrophysics, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments. The scientific program of the meeting included 33 morning plenary talks during 6 days, and 75 parallel sessions over 4 afternoons. Volume A contains plenary and review talks ranging from the mathematical foundations of classical and quantum gravitational theories including recent developments in string/brane theories, to precision tests of general relativity including progress towards the detection of gravitational waves, and from supernova cosmology to relativistic astrophysics including such topics as gamma ray bursts, black hole physics both in our galaxy and in active galactic nuclei in other galaxies, and neutron star and pulsar astrophysics. Volumes B and C include parallel sessions which touch on dark matter, neutrinos, X-ray sources, astrophysical black holes, neutron stars, binary systems, radiative transfer, accretion disks, quasors, gamma ray bursts, supernovas, alternative gravitational theories, perturbations of collapsed objects, analog models, black hole thermodynamics, numerical relativity, gravitational lensing, large scale structure, observational cosmology, early universe models and cosmic microwave background anisotropies, inhomogeneous cosmology, inflation, global structure, singularities, chaos, Einstein-Maxwell systems, wormholes, exact solutions of Einstein's equations, gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors and data analysis, precision gravitational measurements, quantum gravity and loop quantum gravity, quantum cosmology, strings and branes, self-gravitating systems, gamma ray astronomy, and cosmic rays and the history of general relativity.
Since 1975, the triennial Marcel Grossmann Meetings have been organized in order to provide opportunities for discussing recent advances in gravitation, general relativity and relativisitic field theories, emphasizing mathematical foundations, physical predictions, and experimental tests.The proceedings of the Seventh Marcel Grossmann Meeting include the invited papers given at the plenary sessions, the summaries of the parallel sessions, the contributed papers presented at the parallel sessions, and the evening public lectures.The authors of these papers discuss many of the recent theoretical, observational, and experimental developments that have significant implications for the fields of physics, cosmology, and relativistic astrophysics.
The three volumes of the proceedings of MG15 give a broad view of all aspects of gravitational physics and astrophysics, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments. The scientific program of the meeting included 40 morning plenary talks over 6 days, 5 evening popular talks and nearly 100 parallel sessions on 71 topics spread over 4 afternoons. These proceedings are a representative sample of the very many oral and poster presentations made at the meeting.Part A contains plenary and review articles and the contributions from some parallel sessions, while Parts B and C consist of those from the remaining parallel sessions. The contents range from the mathematical foundations of classical and quantum gravitational theories including recent developments in string theory, to precision tests of general relativity including progress towards the detection of gravitational waves, and from supernova cosmology to relativistic astrophysics, including topics such as gamma ray bursts, black hole physics both in our galaxy and in active galactic nuclei in other galaxies, and neutron star, pulsar and white dwarf astrophysics. Parallel sessions touch on dark matter, neutrinos, X-ray sources, astrophysical black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, binary systems, radiative transfer, accretion disks, quasars, gamma ray bursts, supernovas, alternative gravitational theories, perturbations of collapsed objects, analog models, black hole thermodynamics, numerical relativity, gravitational lensing, large scale structure, observational cosmology, early universe models and cosmic microwave background anisotropies, inhomogeneous cosmology, inflation, global structure, singularities, chaos, Einstein-Maxwell systems, wormholes, exact solutions of Einstein's equations, gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors and data analysis, precision gravitational measurements, quantum gravity and loop quantum gravity, quantum cosmology, strings and branes, self-gravitating systems, gamma ray astronomy, cosmic rays and the history of general relativity.
Marcel Grossmann Meetings are formed to further the development of General Relativity by promoting theoretical understanding in the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics and to direct future technological, observational, and experimental efforts. In these meetings are discussed recent developments in classical and quantum gravity, general relativity and relativistic astrophysics, with major emphasis on mathematical foundations and physical predictions, with the main objective of gathering scientists from diverse backgrounds for deepening the understanding of spacetime structure and reviewing the status of test-experiments for Einstein's theory of gravitation. The range of topics is broad, going from the more abstract classical theory, quantum gravity and strings, to the more concrete relativistic astrophysics observations and modeling.The three volumes of the proceedings of MG12 give a broad view of all aspects of gravitational physics and astrophysics, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments. The scientific program of the meeting includes 29 plenary talks stretched over 6 mornings, and 74 parallel sessions over 5 afternoons. Volume A contains plenary and review talks ranging from the mathematical foundations of classical and quantum gravitational theories including recent developments in string theories, to precision tests of general relativity including progress towards the detection of gravitational waves, to relativistic astrophysics including such topics as gamma ray bursts, black hole physics both in our galaxy, in active galactic nuclei and in other galaxies, neutron stars, pulsar astrophysics, gravitational lensing effects, neutrino physics and ultra high energy cosmic rays. The rest of the volumes include parallel sessions on dark matter, neutrinos, X-ray sources, astrophysical black holes, neutron stars, binary systems, radiative transfer, accretion disks, alternative gravitational theories, perturbations of collapsed objects, analog models, black hole thermodynamics, cosmic background radiation & observational cosmology, numerical relativity & algebraic computing, gravitational lensing, variable ';constants'; of nature, large scale structure, topology of the universe, brane-world cosmology, early universe models & cosmic microwave background anisotropies, inhomogeneous cosmology, inflation, gamma ray burst modeling, supernovas, global structure, singularities, cosmic censorship, chaos, Einstein-Maxwell systems, inertial forces, gravitomagnetism, wormholes & time machines, exact solutions of Einstein's equations, gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors & data analysis, precision gravitational measurements, history of relativity, quantum gravity & loop quantum gravity, Casimir effect, quantum cosmology, strings & branes, self-gravitating systems, gamma ray astronomy, cosmic rays, gamma ray bursts and quasars.
The four volumes of the proceedings of MG14 give a broad view of all aspects of gravitational physics and astrophysics, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments. The scientific program of the meeting included 35 morning plenary talks over 6 days, 6 evening popular talks and 100 parallel sessions on 84 topics over 4 afternoons.Volume A contains plenary and review talks ranging from the mathematical foundations of classical and quantum gravitational theories including recent developments in string theory, to precision tests of general relativity including progress towards the detection of gravitational waves, and from supernova cosmology to relativistic astrophysics, including topics such as gamma ray bursts, black hole physics both in our galaxy and in active galactic nuclei in other galaxies, and neutron star, pulsar and white dwarf astrophysics.The remaining volumes include parallel sessions which touch on dark matter, neutrinos, X-ray sources, astrophysical black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs, binary systems, radiative transfer, accretion disks, quasars, gamma ray bursts, supernovas, alternative gravitational theories, perturbations of collapsed objects, analog models, black hole thermodynamics, numerical relativity, gravitational lensing, large scale structure, observational cosmology, early universe models and cosmic microwave background anisotropies, inhomogeneous cosmology, inflation, global structure, singularities, chaos, Einstein-Maxwell systems, wormholes, exact solutions of Einstein's equations, gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors and data analysis, precision gravitational measurements, quantum gravity and loop quantum gravity, quantum cosmology, strings and branes, self-gravitating systems, gamma ray astronomy, cosmic rays and the history of general relativity.
Since 1975, the Marcel Grossmann Meetings have been organized to provide opportunities for discussing recent advances in gravitation, general relativity and relativistic field theories, emphasizing mathematical foundations, physical predictions and experimental tests. The objective of these meetings is to facilitate exchange among scientists that may deepen our understanding of space-time structures and to review the status of ongoing experiments aimed at testing Einstein's theory of gravitation from either the ground or space.The Eighth Marcel Grossmann Meeting took place on 22-27 June, 1997, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. The scientific program included 25 plenary talks and 40 parallel sessions during which 400 papers were presented. The papers that appear in this book cover all aspects of gravitation, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments.
In 1975 the Marcel Grossmann Meetings were established by Remo Ruffini and Abdus Salam to provide a forum for discussion of recent advances in gravitation, general relativity, and relativistic field theories. In these meetings, which are held once every three years, every aspect of research is emphasized - mathematical foundations, physical predictions, and numerical and experimental investigations. The major objective of these meetings is to facilitate exchange among scientists, so as to deepen our understanding of the structure of space-time and to review the status of both the ground-based and the space-based experiments aimed at testing the theory of gravitation.The Marcel Grossmann Meetings have grown under the guidance of an International Organizing Committee and a large International Coordinating Committee. The first two meetings, MG1 and MG2, were held in Trieste (1975, 1979). A most memorable MG3 (1982) was held in Shanghai and represented the first truly international scientific meeting in China after the so-called Cultural Revolution. Three years later MG4 was held in Rome (1985). It was at MG4 that ';astroparticle physics'; was born.MGIXMM was organized by the International Organizing Committee composed of D Blair, Y Choquet-Bruhat, D Christodoulou, T Damour, J Ehlers, F Everitt, Fang Li Zhi, S Hawking, Y Ne'eman, R Ruffini (chair), H Sato, R Sunyaev, and S Weinberg. Essential to the organization was an International Coordinating Committee of 135 members from scientific institutions of 54 countries. MGIXMM was attended by 997 scientists of 69 nationalities. It took place on 2-8 July 2000 at the University of Rome, Italy. The scientific programs included 60 plenary and review talks, as well as talks in 88 parallel sessions. The three volumes of the proceedings of MGIXMM present a rather authoritative view of relativistic astrophysics, which is becoming one of the priorities in scientific endeavour. The papers appearing in these volumes cover all aspects of gravitation, from mathematical issues to recent observations and experiments. Their intention is to give a complete picture of our current understanding of gravitational theory at the turn of the millennium.The Marcel Grossmann Individual Awards for this meeting were presented to Cecille and Bryce DeWitt, Riccardo Giacconi and Roger Penrose, while the Institutional Award went to the Solvay Institute, accepted on behalf of the Institute by Jacques Solvay and Ilya Prigogine. The acceptance speeches are also included in the proceedings.
The Marcel Grossmann Meetings have been conceived with the aim of reviewing recent advances in gravitation and general relativity, with particular emphasis on mathematical foundations and physical predictions. The overall programme includes the broad categories of mathematical techniques, cosmology, quantum gravity, astrophysics, gravitational radiation and experimental developments.The proceedings contain invited and contributed papers.