Tevian Dray | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 17, 1956 Washington, DC, United States |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology BS 1976; University of California, Berkeley Ph.D 1981 |
| Spouse | Corinne A. Manogue |
| Awards | Haimo Distinguished Teaching Award, Mathematical Association of America, 2017 |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Oregon State University |
| Doctoral advisor | Rainer K. Sachs |
Tevian Dray (born March 17, 1956) is an American mathematician who has worked in general relativity, mathematical physics, geometry, and both science and mathematics education. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010.
He has primarily worked in the area of classical general relativity. His research results include confirmation of the existence of solutions of Einstein's equation containing gravitational radiation, the use of computer algebra to classify exact solutions of Einstein's equation, an analysis of a class of gravitational shock waves (including one of the few known exact 2-body solutions in general relativity), and the study of signature change, a possible model for the Big Bang. More recently, his work has focused on applications of the octonions to the theory of fundamental particles.
He was a graduate student under Rainer K. Sachs at
Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D.
in 1981, although much of his dissertation research was done in collaboration with
Abhay Ashtekar. The context of his dissertation, titled The Asymptotic Structure of a Family of Einstein-Maxwell Solutions focused on families of spacetimes which describe accelerating black holes, and which contain gravitational radiation. This demonstrated the existence of exact radiating solutions to the Einstein field equations.[1]
He is currently a professor of mathematics at
Oregon State University. In addition to his ongoing work in mathematical physics,
he has made significant contributions in science education, where he directs
the Vector Calculus Bridge Project,
[2] an attempt to teach vector
calculus the way it is used by scientists and engineers, and is part of the
development team of the Paradigms Project,
[3] a complete
restructuring of the undergraduate physics major around several core
"paradigms". He has written a book [4]
on special relativity and a sequel on general relativity using differential forms.
,[5] and is coauthor of The Geometry of the Octonions released in 2015.[6]
