| Citation | Professor Roger Penrose is distinguished for his researches in mathematical physics, particularly for his highly original work on general relativity. His development of spinor analysis, the conformal technique, and the method of the spin coefficients have advanced the theory of gravitational waves and led to revolutionary advances in our understanding of asymptotic properties of space-times. In particular, Penrose's theorem, that singularities in space-time must occur in solutions of Einstein's equations if the energy-momentum tensor obeys a physically reasonable inequality and if certain global conditions are satisfied, has presented a serious dilemma to physicists and cosmologists. Similarly his discovery (in collaboration with E.T.Newman) that the Einstein-Maxwell equations admit ten exactly conserved quantities is among the most spectacular of the recent developments in general relativity. His work on twistor algebra gives a description of the Minkowski space-time in terms of which it is possible to express any conformally covariant or Poincare covariant operation.
(A list of scientific publications is appended.) |