James Hartle

<h2 id="early-life">Early life</h2>
Hartle was born on August 17, 1939, in Baltimore to Anna Elizabeth Burkett and Charles James Hartle. He began as an engineering major upon entering Princeton, but switched to physics due to the influence of <a href="/facts/John_Archibald_Wheeler/I1A5t0Fd">John Wheeler</a>.
Hartle completed his AB at Princeton University in 1960 and his Ph.D. in <a href="/facts/Particle_physics/YgIuyj2t">particle physics</a> under <a href="/facts/Murray_Gell-Mann/7yg75mjR">Murray Gell-Mann</a> in 1964.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a>

<h2 id="work">Work</h2>
In collaboration with Gell-Mann and others, Hartle developed an alternative to the standard <a href="/facts/Copenhagen_interpretation/DvMFrYJa">Copenhagen interpretation</a>, more general and appropriate to <a href="/facts/Quantum_cosmology/f1UIYIE6">quantum cosmology</a>, based on <a href="/facts/Consistent_histories/pSprGLL8">consistent histories</a>.
With Dieter Brill in 1964, he discovered the Brill–Hartle <a href="/facts/Geon_(physics)/j2kr4zus">geon</a>, an approximate solution realizing <a href="/facts/John_Archibald_Wheeler/I1A5t0Fd">Wheeler</a>'s suggestion of a hypothetical phenomenon in which a gravitational wave packet is confined to a compact region of spacetime by the gravitational attraction of its own field energy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>
With <a href="/facts/Kip_Thorne/o6wkjTtP">Kip Thorne</a>, Hartle derived from general relativity the laws of motion and precession of black holes and other relativistic bodies, including the influence of the coupling of their <a href="/facts/Multipole_moments/Kao2WRBA">multipole moments</a> to the spacetime curvature of nearby objects,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> as well as writing down the <a href="/facts/Hartle%E2%80%93Thorne_metric/Im4SdlfY">Hartle–Thorne metric</a>, an approximate solution which describes the exterior of a slowly and rigidly rotating, stationary and axially symmetric body.
Working at the <a href="/facts/Enrico_Fermi_Institute/Jg8pbNUj">Enrico Fermi Institute</a> at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Chicago/z6zRMUmV">University of Chicago</a> in 1983, he developed the <a href="/facts/Hartle%E2%80%93Hawking_state/hdzWGTGB">Hartle–Hawking wavefunction</a> of the Universe in collaboration with <a href="/facts/Stephen_Hawking/b7dcce7n">Stephen Hawking</a>. This specific solution to the <a href="/facts/Wheeler%E2%80%93deWitt_equation/mSKV9D09">Wheeler–deWitt equation</a> is meant to explain the initial conditions of the <a href="/facts/Big_Bang/I5T1vTnv">Big Bang</a> cosmology.
Hartle's textbook on general relativity, Gravity: An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity, was published in 2003.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> It has been praised for its lucid explanations and focus on physical insight rather than mathematical details.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>
Hartle was a founder of the <a href="/facts/Kavli_Institute_for_Theoretical_Physics/7T8sch5B">Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics</a> and served as its director from 1995 to 1997.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a>
He was elected to the <a href="/facts/American_Philosophical_Society/auqTbV2C">American Philosophical Society</a> in 2016.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> He also was an <a href="/facts/American_Physical_Society/DCkkU6dD">American Physical Society</a> Fellow, a <a href="/facts/Guggenheim_Fellow/SuatTbVK">Guggenheim Fellow</a>, and was elected to the <a href="/facts/National_Academy_of_Sciences/M3oePVeG">National Academy of Sciences</a>. He received the 2009 <a href="/facts/Einstein_Prize_(APS)/TvXar5Bn">APS Einstein Prize</a> for his "broad range of fundamental contributions to relativistic stars, <a href="/facts/Quantum_field_theory_in_curved_spacetime/LF1ud943">quantum fields in curved spacetime</a>, and especially quantum cosmology."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a>

<h2 id="personal-life">Personal life</h2>
Hartle married Mary Jo Wheeler in 1984, the niece of John Wheeler.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a>
Hartle was diagnosed with <a href="/facts/Alzheimer%27s_disease/w7Ad6tdg">Alzheimer's disease</a> in 2022.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> He died in Zurich, Switzerland on May 17, 2023, at the age of 83.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~hartle/">James Hartle homepage</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110725093336/http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~hartle/">Archived</a> July 25, 2011, at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://my.sa.ucsb.edu/Catalog/Current/CollegesDepartments/ls-intro/phys.aspx?DeptTab=Faculty">Faculty profile</a></li>
<li><a href="http://online.itp.ucsb.edu/online/plecture/hartle/">"The Future of Gravity"</a> – April 2000 online lecture (<a href="/facts/RealAudio/Hv3XWbRS">RealAudio</a> plus slides)</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060901071230/http://pauli.physics.lsa.umich.edu/w/arch/som/sto2001/Hartle/real/n001.htm">"Spacetime Quantum Mechanics"</a> online RealAudio lecture</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060522202439/http://www.aei.mpg.de/english/contemporaryIssues/seminarsEvents/hostedConferences/conference/invitedSpeakers/hartle/index.html">"The Classical Behavior of Quantum Universes"</a> online RealAudio lecture</li>
<li><a href="https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=76859">James Hartle</a> at the <a href="/facts/Mathematics_Genealogy_Project/J7AFo1Do">Mathematics Genealogy Project</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/11716">"The Quantum Universe: Essays on Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Cosmology, and Physics in General"</a> book (World Scientific, 2021)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Garisto, Dan (June 15, 2023). "Jim Hartle, 1939-2023". APS News. American Physical Society. Retrieved August 10, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Brill, D. R.; Hartle, J. B. (1964). "Method of the Self-Consistent Field in General Relativity and its Application to the Gravitational Geon". Phys. Rev. 135 (1B): B271 – B278. Bibcode:1964PhRv..135..271B. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.135.B271. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Hartle, James; Thorne, Kip S. (1985). "Laws of motion and precession for black holes and other bodies" (PDF). Physical Review D. 31 (8): 1815–1837. Bibcode:1985PhRvD..31.1815T. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.31.1815. PMID 9955908. <a href="https://authors.library.caltech.edu/9981/1/THOprd85.pdf" target="_blank">https://authors.library.caltech.edu/9981/1/THOprd85.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Hartle, James B. (2003). Gravity: an Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity. San Francisco: Addison–Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-8662-9. <a href="0-8053-8662-9" target="_blank">0-8053-8662-9</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Garisto, Dan (June 15, 2023). "Jim Hartle, 1939-2023". APS News. American Physical Society. Retrieved August 10, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">"2009 Einstein Prize Recipient". www.aps.org. Retrieved August 21, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"In Memoriam: James Hartle | Santa Fe Institute". www.santafe.edu. June 2, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023. <a href="https://www.santafe.edu//news-center/news/memoriam-james-hartle" target="_blank">https://www.santafe.edu//news-center/news/memoriam-james-hartle</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved February 18, 2021. <a href="https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=James+B.+Hartle&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced" target="_blank">https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=James+B.+Hartle&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Garisto, Dan (June 15, 2023). "Jim Hartle, 1939-2023". APS News. American Physical Society. Retrieved August 10, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Garisto, Dan (June 15, 2023). "Jim Hartle, 1939-2023". APS News. American Physical Society. Retrieved August 10, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Garisto, Dan (June 15, 2023). "Jim Hartle, 1939-2023". APS News. American Physical Society. Retrieved August 10, 2023. <a href="http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">"Jim Hartle Obituary". Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2023. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230604205132/https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/2132" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20230604205132/https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/2132</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">"In Memoriam: James Hartle | Santa Fe Institute". www.santafe.edu. June 2, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2024. <a href="https://www.santafe.edu/news-center/news/memoriam-james-hartle" target="_blank">https://www.santafe.edu/news-center/news/memoriam-james-hartle</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

James Hartle open-in-new

James Hartle