Myron Mathisson

Myron Mathisson (4 December 1897 – 13 September 1940) was a Polish theoretical physicist who made early contributions to the theory of general relativity, particularly in the motion of spinning bodies and the analysis of hyperbolic partial differential equations. His work on the equations of motion for extended bodies influenced later formulations such as the Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations, and he made progress on aspects of the Hadamard conjecture in specific cases.

Life and work Education Mathisson was born in Warsaw, 4 December 1897. In 1915, Mathisson completed his secondary education at a philological gymnasium in Warsaw, graduating with a gold medal, a distinction awarded for academic excellence. He began his studies at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology. Then, from 1917 he studied at the University of Warsaw where he graduated in 1924 under the guidance of Czesław Białobrzeski.

In chronological order; M. Mathisson, A. Papapetrou, and W. G. Dixon contributed to the derivation of the equations for a spinning body moving in a gravitational field, now known as the Mathisson–Papapetrou–Dixon equations.

Other work

Due to financial difficulties, Mathisson had to work as a Hebrew translator, as a draftsman producing technical drawings, and engineering calculations of the statics of reinforced concrete structures.

Mathisson died of tuberculosis in Cambridge, on 13 September 1940.

Publications During his short lifetime, he published the following 12 scientific papers: