| Authorised form of name | Israel; Werner (1931 - 2022); physicist |
| Dates | 1931 - 2022 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Place of birth | Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany, Europe |
| Date of birth | 04 October 1931 |
| Place of death | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| Date of death | 18 May 2022 |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Research field | Black holes |
| Gravitational physics |
| General relativity |
| Theoretical physics |
| Physics |
| Activity | Education:
University of Cape Town, (B.Sc and M.Sc); Trinity College, Dublin (PhD)
Career:
Feld Nazi Germany with his family and settled in Cape Town, South Africa (1936); Professor in the department of Physics at the University of Alberta (1958-1996); Adjunct Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia.
Awards/Medals:
Medal of Achievement in Physics of Canadian Association of Physicists 1981
University of Alberta Research Prize in Natural Sciences and Engineering 1983
Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize 1984
Officer of the Order of Canada 1994
Memberships:
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada 1972 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/03/1986 |
| Age at election | 54 |
| Relationships | Spouse: Inge Margulies. |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 11081 |
| OtherInfo | Conducted important work in general relativity, particularly on black holes and relativistic thermodynamics. He proved the unexpected theorem that a non-rotating black hole must be spherically symmetric. His theorem initiated a chain of results which led to the complete description of black hole equilibrium states by known solutions. This opened a new era in black hole theory by making it possible to perform detailed calculations. He also showed how to treat thin shells of matter in general relativity and developed a theory of transport coefficients in relativistic thermodynamics which does not lead to propagation faster than light. |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Werner Israel OC FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/werner-israel-11684/; last accessed: 23/04/2025]
Times Colonist, Werner Israel Obituary, [URL: https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/timescolonist/name/werner-israel-obituary?id=40021020; last accessed: 23/04/2025] |
| Code | NA4221 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1986/19 | Israel, Werner: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1981 |