George F. R. Ellis
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use South African English Template:Infobox scientist Template:Cosmology George Francis Rayner Ellis, FRS, Hon. FRSSAf (born 11 August 1939), is the emeritus distinguished professor of complex systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, published in 1973, and is considered one of the world's leading theorists in cosmology.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> From 1989 to 1992 he served as president of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. He is a past president of the International Society for Science and Religion. He is an A-rated researcher with the NRF.
Ellis, an active Quaker,<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was a vocal opponent of apartheid during the National Party reign in the 1970s and 1980s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and it is during this period that Ellis's research focused on the more philosophical aspects of cosmology, for which he won the Templeton Prize in 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also awarded the Order of the Star of South Africa by Nelson Mandela in 1999.Template:Citation needed On 18 May 2007, he was elected a fellow of the British Royal Society.Template:Citation needed
Life
Born in 1939 to George Rayner Ellis, a newspaper editor, and Gwendoline Hilda MacRobert Ellis in Johannesburg, George Francis Rayner Ellis attended the University of Cape Town, where he graduated with honours in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics with distinction.Template:Citation needed He represented the university in fencing, rowing and flying.Template:Citation needed
While a student at St John's College, Cambridge, where he received a PhD in applied maths and theoretical physics in 1964, he was on college rowing teams.Template:Citation needed
At Cambridge, Ellis served as a research fellow from 1965 to 1967, was assistant lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics until 1970, and was then appointed university lecturer, serving until 1974.Template:Citation needed
Ellis became a visiting professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago in 1970, a lecturer at the Cargese Summer School in Corsica in 1971 and the Erice Summer School in Sicily in 1972, and a visiting H3 professor at the University of Hamburg, also in 1972.
The following year, Ellis co-wrote The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with Stephen Hawking, debuting at a strategic moment in the development of General Relativity Theory.
In the following year, Ellis returned to South Africa to accept an appointment as professor of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, a position he held until his retirement in 2005.
In 2005 Ellis appeared as a guest speaker at the Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minnesota.
Work
George Ellis has worked for many decades on anisotropic cosmologies (Bianchi models) and inhomogeneous universes, and on the philosophy of cosmology.Template:Sfn He is currently writing on the emergence of complexity, and the way this is enabled by top-down causation in the hierarchy of complexity.Template:Sfn Recently Ellis has also collaborated with Teppo Felin, Denis Noble, and Jan Koenderink on a set of articles published in the journal Genome Biology.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In terms of philosophy of science, Ellis is a Platonist.Template:Sfn
Publications
Books
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Papers
Ellis has over 500 published articles; including 17 in Nature. Notable papers include:
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Honours
In 2019 Rhodes University in Grahamstown announced it would award Ellis an honorary doctorate in laws (LLD, hc)<ref name="groc_Rhod">Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
Notes and references
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External links
- Partial list of Ellis' published papers
- George Ellis's web page Template:Webarchive
- Professor George Ellis: a man of many parts, Cape Argus, 18 March 2004
- George Ellis's scientific work as listed at SPIRESTemplate:Dead link
- Template:Webarchive on Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett (transcript Template:Webarchive)
- George Ellis extended interview with transcript for the 'Why Are We Here?' documentary series.
Template:Templeton Prize Laureates Template:Order of Mapungubwe
- 1939 births
- Living people
- Alumni of Michaelhouse
- South African cosmologists
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Members of the International Society for Science and Religion
- Philosophers of cosmology
- South African Christians
- South African mathematicians
- South African Quakers
- Templeton Prize laureates
- Academic staff of the University of Cape Town
- University of Cape Town alumni
- Writers about religion and science
- Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge