1. Hermann Bondi is best known for developing the steady state model of the universe with Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold as an alternative to the Big Bang theory.
25 Facts About Hermann Bondi
1. 2.
Hermann Bondi contributed to the theory of general relativity, and was the first to analyze the inertial and gravitational interaction of negative mass and the first to explicate correctly the nature of gravitational waves.
3.
Hermann Bondi was born in Vienna, the son of a Jewish medical doctor.
4.
Hermann Bondi was brought up in Vienna, where he studied at the Realgymnasium.
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Hermann Bondi showed early prodigious ability at mathematics, and was recommended to Arthur Eddington by Abraham Fraenkel.
6.
Fraenkel was a distant relation, the only mathematician in the extended family and Hermann Bondi's mother had the foresight to arrange a meeting between her young son and the famous man knowing that this might be the key to enabling him to follow his wishes and become a mathematician himself.
7.
Hermann Bondi arrived in Cambridge in 1937, escaping from antisemitism in Austria.
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In 1940, Hermann Bondi became Senior Wrangler at the University of Cambridge.
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Hermann Bondi lectured in mathematics in the University of Cambridge from 1945 to 1954.
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Hermann Bondi was a fellow of Trinity College from 1943 to 1949 and from 1952 to 1954.
11.
In 1948, Hermann Bondi, Fred Hoyle and Thomas Gold formulated the Steady State theory, which holds that the universe is constantly expanding but matter is constantly created to form new stars and galaxies to maintain a constant average density.
12.
Hermann Bondi popularized the sticky bead argument which was said to be originally due, anonymously, to Richard Feynman, for the claim that physically meaningful gravitational radiation is indeed predicted by general relativity, an assertion which was controversial up until about 1955.
13.
Hermann Bondi became a professor in King's College London in 1954 and was appointed Emeritus Professor there in 1985.
14.
Hermann Bondi was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1956 to 1964.
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Hermann Bondi was active outside the confines of academic lecturing and research.
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Hermann Bondi became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1959.
17.
Hermann Bondi made a series of television programs called E=mc for the BBC in 1963.
18.
Hermann Bondi was appointed a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1973.
19.
Hermann Bondi was awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Bath in 1974.
20.
Hermann Bondi supported the proposal for a Severn Barrage to generate electricity, but this project was not carried forward.
21.
Hermann Bondi's parents were Jewish, but he never "felt the need for religion" and was a lifelong humanist.
22.
Hermann Bondi was president of the British Humanist Association from 1982 to 1999, and president of the Rationalist Press Association from 1982.
23.
Hermann Bondi was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.
24.
Hermann Bondi married Christine Stockman, a mathematician and astronomer, in 1947; she had been one of Hoyle's research students and like him she went on to be active in the humanist movement.
25.
Hermann Bondi died at Cambridge in 2005, aged 85 and his ashes were scattered at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge.