Biographical Memoirs Volume 51 (1980) / Chapter Skim
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Howard Percy Robertson
Howard Percy Robertson
Pages 342-365
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From page 343... ...
On his death in 1961, DetIev Bronk sent the following message to Bob's wife Angela: Distinguished scientist, selfless servant of the national interest, courageous champion of the good and the right, warm human being, he gave 343
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From page 344... ...
All the children attencled the University. He lived in a small lumber town, Monteseno, somewhat excluded by work from the normal youthful fun of university life.
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and Technical Consultant to the Secretary of War. In 1945 he was Chief of the Scientific Intelligence Advisory Section of the Allied Forces Supreme Headquarters.
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From page 346... ...
Although a student in mathematics, at Princeton he was in both the physics and mathematics departments. As a Caltech physicist he advised several generations of observing astronomers at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories on the critical tests of relativistic cosmology, as had Tolman.
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From page 347... ...
by Wey1, with whom he worked, he translated Weyl's Theory of Groups and Quantum Mechanics in ~ 93 ~ . His bibliography from 1924 to 1929 includes differential geometry, the theory of continuous groups, atomic anal quantum physics, and general-relativistic cosmology.
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From page 348... ...
Progress requires some postulate of the uniformity of the universe of matter and space-time, called the "cosmological principle." A possible nonzero cosmological constant, which Einstein introduced as a complication into the field equations, took the form of a cosmic repulsion of unknown magnitude. In the theory of gravitation, the interaction of matter with the geometry of space occurs in the form of singular points (matter)
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From page 349... ...
His exact solution of the two-body problem, including the advance of the perihelion of an eccentric planetary orbit, has stood the test of time. The final observational tests of Robertson's expressions have not yet been made in the larger universe.
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From page 350... ...
In 1953, Bob's paper (discussing tests of cosmology on an "elementary" level characteristically issued from the California Institute of Technology and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe. When Bob was working in Washington and Paris and also teaching in Pasadena, he still discussec} consequences of evolutionary changes and pro
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From page 351... ...
A major novelty in observational cosmology that wouIcl have given Bob a special pleasure is the racliofrequency discovery of the 2°7 K all-pervading isotropic, background radiation, greatly redshiftec! evidence of the cosmic fireball soon after the beginning.
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From page 352... ...
A third conceivable departure from Einsteinian predictions can be tested by the gravitational redshift of the photons of a light-ray. The accuracy
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From page 353... ...
This effect is of special interest because the Einstein value is twice the Newtonian value. Radio frequency observations of the apparent position of small radio sources as the sun passes near them have amply justified this prediction to one percent, and the less accurate stellar optical observations agree.
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From page 354... ...
He discusses the effects of space curvature on astronomical observables and says, "The success of the general relativity theory of gravitation as a physical geometry of space-time is attributable to the fact that the gravitational and inertial masses of any body are observed to be rigorously proportional for all matter." Note his characteristic approach: a test by external reality. He continued to study attempted revisions, Leigh Page's or E
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~ first met him when ~ was a Harvard graduate student attending his series of lectures at the Harvard College Observatory summer school in 1937. The lectures were unforgettable, as was his personality.
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He had become close friends with van Neumann ant] a diverse group from Moe Berg to Solly Zuckerman, Stanislaus Ulam, and Todor van Karman.
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A letter from General Lauris Norstad, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, in 1962 is quoted in A
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Bob was deeply involved with British colleagues in understanding the V-2 attacks and with the effectiveness (or lack of it) of large-scale strategic bombing on military procluction.
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From page 359... ...
Although he liked to appear hail-fellow-well-met, and even garrulous at times, later experience suggested to me that he had strong aspects of the loner. His great forte in physics was mathematical elegance and, unlike Johnny van Neumann, he rarely dabbled in a quantitative way with relatively mundane problems.
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From page 360... ...
with the Department of Defense to replace the work of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. When it became clear in the mid 1 950's that a large full time staff, such as the RDB had, was really out of place in the Pentagon, a Defense Science Board composed of part time advisors and representatives from various agencies and organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, was created to take its place.
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From page 361... ...
P Robertson and Professor Frederick Seitz for their kind reminiscences and my wife for editorial assistance.
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From page 362... ...
Soc., 29:481-96. 1928 Bemerkung uber separierbare systeme in der Wellen mechanik.
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From page 363... ...
Soc., 5:63-81. Structure cinematique d'un univers spatialement uniforme.
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From page 364... ...
(A book written by Noonan and based on much unpublished, partially completed lecture note material.)
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