This is a partial list of persons who have made major contributions to the development of general relativity. Some related lists are mentioned at the bottom of the page.
A
- Peter C. Aichelburg (Aichelburg/Sexl ultraboost, generalized symmetries),
- Miguel Alcubierre (numerical relativity, warp drives),
- J. A. Allnut (Alnutt fluid solution),
- J. E. Åman (Cartan/Karlhede classification),
- Abhay Ashtekar (Ashtekar variables, dynamical horizons),
B
- O. R. Baldwin (Baldwin/Jeffery plane wave),
- James M. Bardeen (Bardeen vacuum),
- Robert Bartnik (existence of ADM mass for asymptotically flat vacuums, quasilocal mass),
- Jacob Bekenstein (black hole entropy),
- Lluis Bel (second ell is not a typo, aka Louis Bel; Bel decomposition, Bel-Robinson tensor),
- Vladimir A. Belinsky (BKL conjecture, inverse scattering transform solution generating methods),
- Bruno Bertotti (Bertotti/Robinson electrovacuum),
- George David Birkhoff (Birkhoff's theorem),
- Luc Blanchet (gravitational radiation),
- Hermann Bondi (gravitational radiation, Bondi radiation chart, Bondi mass-energy-momentum, LTB dust, maverick models),
- William B. Bonnor (Bonnor beam solution),
- Robert H. Boyer (Boyer-Lindquist chart in Kerr vacuum),
- Hubert Bray (Penrose inequalities),
- Hans Adolph Buchdahl (Buchdahl fluid, Buchdahl theorem),
- Carl H. Brans (Brans/Dicke theory),
- Dieter R. Brill (Brill-Hartle geon, Brill mass, positive energy for axisymmetric spacetimes, Brill chart, extensions),
- Hans W. Brinkmann (exact gravitational waves, Brinkmann chart)
- William L. Burke (Burke potential, textbook),
C
- J. Carminati (CM invariants),
- Bernard J. Carr (self-similarity hypothesis),
- Brandon Carter (no-hair theorem, black hole mechanics, variational principle for Ernst vacuums),
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Chandrasekhar limit, colliding plane waves, quasinormal modes, relativistic stars, monograph),
- Jean Chazy (Chazy/Curzon vacuum),
- Matthew W. Choptuik (critical phenomena in gravitational collapse),
- Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (formerly Yvonne Bruhat; initial value formulations),
- Demetrios Christodoulou (naked singularity in LTB dust, stability of Minkowski vacuum),
- P. T. Chruśchiel (asymptotics of RT vacuums, existence of vacuums admitting no maximal slicing, existence of Taub IX vacuums with nonunique extensions to NUT vacuum region, Cauchy horizons in T3-Gowdy vacuums),
- Christopher J. S. Clarke (textbooks),
- Alan A. Coley (dynamics of minisuperspace, similarity hypothesis),
- Justin Corvino (construction of initial data not admitting conformal geometry approach, gravitational shielding),
- H. E. J. Curzon (Chazy/Curzon vacuum),
D
- Georges Darmois (matching conditions, Darmois vacuum),
- R. Debever (type D vacuum solutions),
- M. Demiański (type D vacuum solutions),
- Solomon Deser (ADM initial value formulation, effective field theory),
- Steven Detweiler (quasinormal modes),
- Willem de Sitter (or deSitter; deSitter Lambdavacuum solution, deSitter precession),
- Bryce DeWitt (Wheeler/DeWitt equation),
- Robert H. Dicke (Brans/Dicke theory, PPN formalism, background radiation),
- Ray d'Inverno (textbook),
- Paul Dirac (graviton),
- R. W. Drever (gravitational wave detectors),
E
- Arthur Stanley Eddington (early book, Eddington chart on Schwarzschild vacuum, role of curvature, PPN formalism, popularizations of general relativity),
- Jürgen P. Ehlers (Ehlers vacuum family, symmetries of PP waves),
- Albert Einstein (need I say more?),
- George Ellis (cosmological mdoels, classification of curvature singularities, monograph),
- G. Erez (Erez/Rosen vacuum),
- F. J. Ernst (Ernst vacuum family, Ernst equation, solution generating methods, Ernst/Wild electrovacuum),
- Roland Eötvös (Weak Equivalence Principle öexperiment),
- Frank B. Estabrook (hyperbolic formulations of the EFE),
F
- David L. Farnsworth (use of Lie groups in relativity, Kerr/Farnsworth ansatz),
- Valeria Ferrari (Chandrasekhar/Ferrari colliding plane wave, Ferrari/Ibañez colliding plane wave, relativistic stars),
- David Finkelstein (rediscovered Eddington chart on Schwarzschild vacuum),
- Friedrich, Helmut (nonlinear global stability of dS lambdavac, peeling behavior is generic under small global nonlinear perturbations of Minkowksi),
- Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock (textbook, harmonic chart),
- Györgi Fodor (Fodor method for generating static spherically symmetric perfect fluid solutions),
- Robert L. Forward (gravitational wave detectors),
- William A. Fowler (relativistic stellar models, gravitational collapse),
- Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman (Aleksandr Friedman; Friedman cosmological models),
- John L. Friedman (topological censorship),
- C. Fronsdal (global structure of Schwarzschild vacuum),
G
- Robert P. Geroch (Geroch group, singularity theorems),
- Kurt Gödel (Gödel dust solution, closed timelike curves),
- R. H. Gowdy (Gowdy solutions),
- Jerry B. Griffiths (colliding plane waves),
H
- B. Kent Harrison (gravitational collapse, solution generating methods),
- James Hartle (textbook),
- Stephen Hawking (singularity theorems, Hawking radiation),
- Charles W. Hellaby (cosmological models),
- David Hilbert (variational principle),
- Cornelius Hoenselaers (solution generating methods, monograph)
- Fred Hoyle (maverick models),
- Russell Hulse (Hulse/Taylor pulsar),
I
- J. Ibañez (colliding plane wave, solution generating methods, Ferrari/Ibañez colliding plane waves),
- Roger A. Isaacson (energy-momentum complex),
- James A. Isenberg (initial value formulations, gluing construction),
- J. M. Islam (monograph),
- Werner Israel (black hole interiors and mass inflation),
J
- Robert T. Jantzen (streamlined Bianchi classification, gravitoelectromagnetism),
- George Barker Jeffery (Baldwin/Jeffery plane wave),
- Pascual Jordan (Jordan/Brans/Dicke theory),
K
- Ronald Kantowski (Kantowski/Sachs fluids),
- Anders Karlhede (Cartan/Karlhede classification),
- Edward Kasner (Kasner dust solution),
- Roy Patrick Kerr (Kerr vacuum, Kerr/Schild metrics, use of Lie groups in relativity, Kerr/Farnsworth ansatz),
- Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov (BKL conjecture),
- William Morris Kinnersley (photon rocket),
- Sergiu Klainerman (global stability of Minkowski vacuum),
- Oskar Klein (Klein fluid, Kaluza/Klein theories),
- Arthur Komar (Komar energy-momentum integrals),
- Dmitri R. Korotkin (finite-gap solutions, solution generating methods),
- Dietrich Kramer (solution generating methods, monograph),
- Andrzej Krasińkski (exact solutions),
- Martin Kruskal (KS chart for Schwarzschild vacuum),
- Wolfgang Kundt (EK classification of symmetries of pp waves),
L
- Lev D. Landau (LL complex, textbook),
- Kayle Lake (GRTensorII, Lake method for generating static spherically symmetric perfect fluids),
- Georges-Henri Lemaître (cosmological model, LTB dust, Lemaître chart on Schwarzschild vacuum),
- Josef Lense (Lense/Thirring precession),
- Tullio Levi-Civita (static vacuums, C-metric; see also related list below),
- R. M. Lewis (chart for Ernst vacuums),
- André Lichnerowicz (matching conditions, Lichnerowicz equation),
- Evgeny M. Lifshitz (Landau-Lifschitz gravitational energy-momentum complex, BKL conjecture, textbook),
- Alan P. Lightman (problem book),
M
- Malcolm A. H. MacCallum (exact solutions book),
- Richard A. Matzner (popularized Penrose picture of gravitational wave, rotating cosmologies),
- Mark Mars (Mars vacuum),
- David Maxwell (Yamabe number criterion for existence of asymptotically flat vacuum solutions),
- Reinhard Meinel (Neugebauer/Meinel disk solution),
- M. A. Melvin (Melvin electrovacuum),
- Hermann Minkowski (spacetime),
- Charles W. Misner (mixmaster model, ADM initial value formulation, ADM mass, textbook)
- R. G. McLenaghan (CM invariants),
- J. W. Moffatt (various classical gravitation theories)
- C. Møller (energy-momentum complex),
N
- Hidekazu Nariai (Nariai Lambdavacuum solution),
- Gernot Neugebauer (Neugebauer/Meinel disk solution),
- Ezra T. Newman (Ted Newman; Newman/Penrose formalism, Kerr/Newman electrovacuum, NUT vacuum, RT spacetimes, relation of lensing to Weyl tensor),
- Wei-Tou Ni (competing theory),
- Gunnar Nordström (competing theory, RN electrovacuum),
- Kenneth Nordvedt (Nordvedt effect, PPN formalism, competing theory),
- Igor D. Novikov (Novikov chart in Schwarschild vacuum, monograph),
O
- S. O'Brien (O'Brien/Synge matching conditions),
- Julius Robert Oppenheimer (gravitational collapse, OS dust),
- Amos Ori (gravitational collapse),
- István Ozsváth (Ozsváth/Schücking plane wave),
P
- Georgios O. Papadopoulos (Papadopoulos/Xanthopoulos solution),
- Achilles Papapetrou (chart for Ernst vacuum family, Majumdar-Papapetrou electrovacuums, Dixon-Papapetrou equations),
- Paul Painleve (Painleve chart in Schwarzschild vacuum),
- Roger Penrose (singularity theorems, conformal compactification and techniques from algebraic geometry, Penrose limits, cosmic censorship hypotheses, Penrose inequalities, geometry of gravitational plane waves, impulsive waves, Penrose/Khan colliding plane wave, Newman/Penrose formalism, twistor theory, highly influential monograph),
- Asher Peres (gravitational wave maverick),
- Zoltan Perjés (relavistic multipoles, Ernst vacuums),
- Volker Perlick (solution methods, strong lensing),
- Alexei Zinovievich Petrov (A. Z. Petrov or Aleksey Zinovjevitch Petrov; Petrov classification of symmetries of Weyl tensor),
- Tsvi Piran (gravitational collapse),
- Felix A. E. Pirani (gravitational radiation, Petrov/Pirani classification of symmetries of Weyl tensor),
- Jerzy F. Plebańksi (Plebański vacuum),
- Eric Poisson (black hole interiors, mass inflation, monograph),
- William H. Press (gravitational wave astronomy, problem book),
- Richard H. Price (power law decay of perturbations, problem book),
Q
- H. Quevedo (relativistic multipoles, exact solutions),
R
- George Yuri Rainich (Rainich conditions),
- Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri (Raychaudhuri equation),
- Tullio Regge (Regge calculus),
- Hans Reissner (RN electrovacuum),
- Wolfgang Rindler (Rindler chart for Minkowski vacuum),
- H. Ringström (strong cosmic censorship holds for T3-Gowdy vacuums),
- Howard Percy Robertson (role of curvature, PPN formalism, RW metric),
- Ivor Robinson (Bel/Robinson tensor, Bertotti/Robinson electrovacuum),
- Nathan Rosen (gravitational wave maverick, Erez/Rosen vacuum),
- Remo Ruffini (particle motion in black holes, textbook),
- Michael P. Ryan (rotating cosmological models),
S
- Rainer K. Sachs (peeling theorem, optical scalars, Kantowski/Sachs fluid solutions),
- Andriey Dmitrievich Sakharov (vacuum fluctuations),
- Alfred Schild (Kerr/Schild metrics, Schild's ladder),
- Leonard Isaac Schiff (PPN formalism, textbook),
- Bernd G. Schmidt (Geroch group, classification of curvature singularities, quasinormal modes),
- Richard Schoen (positive energy theorem, gravitational shielding),
- Engelbert Schücking (Ozsváth/Schücking plane wave),
- Bernard F. Schutz (gravitational wave detectors, textbook),
- Karl Schwarzschild (Schwarzschild vacuum, Schwarzschild fluid),
- Dennis William Sciama (Einstein-Cartan theory, role in legitimizing black hole concept),
- Jose M. M. Senovilla (Senovilla dust),
- Irving I. Shapiro (Shapiro effect),
- Harlow Shapley (rotating cosmologies),
- D. H. Sharp (quasilocal energy-momentum),
- Lawrence Shepley (rotating cosmological models),
- Douglas A. Singleton (asymptotics of RT spacetimes),
- Hartland Snyder (OS collapsing dust model),
- Hans Stephani (Stephani dust, monograph, textbooks),
- J. M. Stewart (singularities of wavefronts of gravitational waves),
- John Lighton Synge (global structure of Schwarzschild vacuum, world function, O'Brien/Synge matching conditions),
- Lázló B. Szabados (quasilocal energy-momentum)
- Peter Szekeres (Kruskal/Szekeres chart on Schwarzschild vacuum, colliding plane waves, Szekeres fluid),
T
- L. A. Tamburino (NUT vacuum),
- Abraham Haskel Taub (Taub plane symmetric vacuum, Taub/NUT vacuum, vacuum solutions foliated by Bianchi manifolds, relativistic hydrodynamics),
- Joseph Taylor (Hulse/Taylor pulsar),
- Saul A. Teulkolsky (master equation for perturbations of Kerr vacuum, problem book),
- Hans Thirring (Lense/Thirring precession effect)
- Kip S. Thorne (relativistic multipoles, hoop conjecture, membrane paradigm, gravitational wave detectors, textbook),
- Richard Chase Tolman (cosmology, Tolman dust solutions, LTB dust),
- Andrzej Trautman (RT spacetimes),
U
- Ulvi Yurtsever (almost planar gravitational waves),
- William J. Unruh (Unruh radiation),
- T. Unti (NUT vacuum),
V
- Prahalad Chunilal Vaidya (P. C. Vaidya; Vaidya null dust),
- Enric Verdaguer (inverse scattering solution generating method),
W
- Robert M. Wald (textbook, quantum field theory on curved spacetimes),
- Arthur Geoffrey Walker (Fermi/Walker derivatives, Robertson/Walker metric),
- Hugo D. Walhquist (Walhquist fluid),
- Joseph Weber (gravitational wave detectors),
- Hermann Weyl (Weyl vacuums; see also related list below),
- John Archibald Wheeler (popularized black holes, geometrodynamics, relativistic stars, Zerilli/Wheeler equation, Wheeler/DeWitt equation, textbook),
- Alfred North Whitehead (competing theory),
- W. J. Wild (Ernst/Wild electrovacuum),
- Clifford Martin Will (PPN formalism),
- Jeffrey Winicour (JNS mcmsf solution, characteristic evolution and matching),
- Donald M. Witt (topological censorship, chaos),
- Edward Witten (positive energy theorem),
- Louis Witten (Witten electrovacuum solutions; father of Edward),
X
- Basilis C. Xanthopoulos (Vasilis Xanthopoulous; Chandrasekhar/Xanthopoulos colliding plane wave),
Y
- Shing-Tung Yau (positive energy theorem),
- James W. York (initial value formulation),
Z
- V. E. Zakharov (inverse scattering transform solution generating method),
- Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich (maverick theories, relativistic stars and black holes),
- Franco J. Zerilli (Zerilli/Wheeler equation),
- Nina Zipser (global nonlinear stability of Minkowski an space of electrovacuums),