Abraham H. Taub

Abraham Taub
Born	(1911-02-01)February 1, 1911 Chicago
Died	August 9, 1999(1999-08-09) (aged 88)
Nationality	American
Fields	Mathematics Physics
Institutions	University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Alma mater	Princeton University
Doctoral advisor	Howard P. Robertson
Doctoral students	C. William Gear Gene Golub
Known for	Taub Adiabat

Abraham Haskel Taub (February 1, 1911 – August 9, 1999) was a distinguished American mathematician and physicist, well known for his important contributions to the early development of general relativity, as well as differential geometry and differential equations. In a 1948 paper dealing with relativistic shock waves, he introduced a relativistic generalization of the Rankine-Hugoniot jump conditions across a shock, which is now known as the Taub Adiabat. He also introduced the Taub–NUT space in general relativity.

Taub earned his doctorate at Princeton University in 1935, under the direction of the prominent relativist Howard P. Robertson. At Princeton, Taub was also influenced by Oswald Veblen.

In 1948, Abe Taub went to the University of Illinois as the chief mathematician associated with a project to build a computer based on von Neumann's plans. The computer, called ORDVAC, was completed in 1952 and delivered to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. A second copy of the computer, ILLIAC I, remained at Illinois and was the prototype for several other computers. Taub was head of the Digital Computer Laboratory at Illinois from 1961 until 1964, when he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, as director of the Computer Center (1964–68).

References

• Mashhoon, Bahram. "In Memoriam: Abraham Haskel Taub". SIAM website. Retrieved September 7, 2008. 
• Taub, A. H. (1991). "Interaction of dust clouds fronted by impulsive plane waves". J. Math. Phys. 32 (5): 1322. Bibcode:1991JMP....32.1322T. doi:10.1063/1.529332. 
• Tipler, Frank, ed. (1980). Essays in general relativity : a festschrift for Abraham Taub. New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-691380-3. 
• Taub, A. H. (1980). "Space-times with distribution-valued curvature tensors". J. Math. Phys. 21 (6): 1423. Bibcode:1980JMP....21.1423T. doi:10.1063/1.524568. 
• Taub, A. H. (1971). "Relativistic Hydrodynamics". In A. H. Taub. Studies in Applied Mathematics. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Mathematical Association of America. pp. 235–263. LCCN 74-168565. 
• Taub, A. H. & Fernbach, S. (1970). Computers and their role in the physical sciences. New York: Gordon and Breach. ISBN 0-677-14030-4. 
• Taub, A. H. (1951). "Empty space-times admitting a three parameter group of motions". Ann. Math. The Annals of Mathematics. 53 (3): 472–490. doi:10.2307/1969567. JSTOR 1969567. 
• Taub, A. H. (1940). "The acceleration of the Dirac electron". In Ballantine, J. P. Six studies in mathematics. Seattle: University of Washington Press. LCCN 40-028366. 

External links

• Abraham H. Taub at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Biography of Taub at Princeton
• Interview of Taub and others about their experiences at Princeton

Relativity
Special relativity	Background Principle of relativity Special relativity Foundations Frame of reference Speed of light Hyperbolic orthogonality Rapidity Maxwell's equations Formulation Galilean relativity Galilean transformation Lorentz transformation Consequences Time dilation Relativistic mass Mass–energy equivalence Length contraction Relativity of simultaneity Relativistic Doppler effect Thomas precession Relativistic disks Spacetime Light cone World line Spacetime diagram Biquaternions Minkowski space
General relativity	Background Introduction Mathematical formulation Fundamental concepts Special relativity Equivalence principle World line Riemannian geometry Minkowski diagram Phenomena Black hole Event horizon Frame-dragging Geodetic effect Lenses Singularity Waves Ladder paradox Twin paradox Two-body problem Equations ADM formalism BSSN formalism Einstein field equations Geodesic equation Friedmann equations Linearized gravity Post-Newtonian formalism Hamilton–Jacobi–Einstein equation Advanced theories Brans–Dicke theory Kaluza–Klein Mach's principle Quantum gravity Solutions Schwarzschild (interior) Reissner–Nordström Gödel Kerr Kerr–Newman Kasner Taub–NUT Milne Robertson–Walker pp-wave van Stockum dust Weyl−Lewis−Papapetrou
Scientists	Einstein Lorentz Hilbert Poincaré Schwarzschild de Sitter Reissner Nordström Weyl Eddington Friedmann Milne Zwicky Lemaître Gödel Wheeler Robertson Bardeen Walker Kerr Chandrasekhar Ehlers Penrose Hawking Taylor Hulse Stockum Taub Newman Yau Thorne Weiss Bondi Misner others