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George F. R. Ellis
open-in-new
<h2 id="life">Life</h2> <p>Born in 1939 to George Rayner Ellis, a newspaper editor, and Gwendoline Hilda MacRobert Ellis in Johannesburg, George Francis Rayner Ellis attended the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cape_Town/a8rCGMht">University of Cape Town</a>, where he graduated with honours in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics with distinction. He represented the university in fencing, rowing and flying. </p><p>While a student at <a href="/facts/St_John%2527s_College%2c_Cambridge/NRRfwkfh">St John's College, Cambridge</a>, where he received a PhD in applied maths and theoretical physics in 1964, he was on college rowing teams. </p><p>At Cambridge, Ellis served as a research fellow from 1965 to 1967, was assistant lecturer in the <a href="/facts/Department_of_Applied_Mathematics_and_Theoretical_Physics/uHPRsNqH">Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics</a> until 1970, and was then appointed university lecturer, serving until 1974. </p><p>Ellis became a visiting professor 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 1970, a lecturer at the Cargese Summer School in Corsica in 1971 and the Erice Summer School in Sicily in 1972, and a visiting H3 professor at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Hamburg/BeercIta">University of Hamburg</a>, also in 1972. </p><p>The following year, Ellis co-wrote <i><a href="/facts/The_Large_Scale_Structure_of_Space-Time/VWgzqSEC">The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time</a></i> with <a href="/facts/Stephen_Hawking/b7dcce7n">Stephen Hawking</a>, debuting at a strategic moment in the development of <a href="/facts/General_Relativity_Theory/jVsoIg8X">General Relativity Theory</a>. </p><p>In the following year, Ellis returned to South Africa to accept an appointment as professor of applied mathematics at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cape_Town/a8rCGMht">University of Cape Town</a>, a position he held until his retirement in 2005. </p><p>In 2005 Ellis appeared as a guest speaker at the <a href="/facts/Nobel_Conference/tAIfeDCP">Nobel Conference</a> in <a href="/facts/St._Peter%2c_Minnesota/5KEmKc6D">St. Peter, Minnesota</a>. </p> <h2 id="work">Work</h2> <p>George Ellis has worked for many decades on <a href="/facts/Anisotropy/YMqTQWVB">anisotropic</a> cosmologies (<a href="/facts/Bianchi_classification/KXl99DLN">Bianchi models</a>) and <a href="/facts/Inhomogeneous_cosmology/0DdqEH7y">inhomogeneous universes</a>, and on the philosophy of cosmology.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> He is currently writing on the emergence of complexity, and the way this is enabled by top-down causation in the hierarchy of <a href="/facts/Complexity/yaw0UrRj">complexity</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> Recently Ellis has also collaborated with <a href="/facts/Teppo_Felin/709ySUyK">Teppo Felin</a>, <a href="/facts/Denis_Noble/NMlTKDgP">Denis Noble</a>, and <a href="/facts/Jan_Koenderink/6h6X5EoP">Jan Koenderink</a> on a set of articles published in the journal <i>Genome Biology.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></i> In terms of <a href="/facts/Philosophy_of_science/aonsfhTY">philosophy of science</a>, Ellis is a <a href="/facts/Platonist/0mvr2x2p">Platonist</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="publications">Publications</h2> <h3>Books</h3> <ul><li>——; Hawking, S.W. (1973). <a href="/facts/The_Large_Scale_Structure_of_Space-Time/VWgzqSEC"><i>The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time</i></a>. Cambridge: University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-20016-5.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a></li> <li>——; Dewar, David (1979). <i>Low Income Housing Policy in South Africa</i>. Urban Problems Research Unit, <a href="/facts/UCT/a8rCGMht">UCT</a>.</li> <li>——; Williams, Ruth (1988). <a href="https://archive.org/details/flatcurvedspacet0000elli"><i>Flat and Curved Space Times</i></a> (2000 revised ed.). Oxford University Press.</li> <li>—— (1993). <i>Before the Beginning: Cosmology Explained</i>. Bowerdean/Marion Boyars.</li> <li>——; Lanza, A.; Miller, J. (1993). <i>The Renaissance of General Relativity and Cosmology</i> (2005 paperback ed.). Cambridge: University Press.</li> <li>—— (1994). <i>Science Research Policy in South Africa</i>. Royal Society of South Africa.</li> <li>——; <a href="/facts/Nancey_Murphy/K106Jmu4">Murphy, Nancey</a> (1996). <i>On The Moral Nature of the universe: Cosmology, Theology, and Ethics</i>. Fortress Press.</li> <li>——; Wainwright, John, eds. (1997). <i>Dynamical Systems in Cosmology</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-55457-2.</li> <li>——; <a href="/facts/Peter_Coles/F54ytAyY">Coles, Peter</a> (1997). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RU7glFG-jX0C"><i>Is The Universe Open or Closed? The Density of Matter in the Universe</i></a>. Cambridge Lecture Notes in Physics, vol. 7. Cambridge: University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-56689-6.</li> <li>——, ed. (2002). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WN8L3pwfpW8C"><i>The Far Future Universe: Eschatology from a Cosmic Perspective</i></a>. Templeton Foundation Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-1-890151-90-4.</li> <li>—— (2004). <i>Science in Faith and Hope: an interaction</i>. Quaker Books.</li> <li>—— (2004a). <i>Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity</i>. Cambridge: University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-521-83113-0.</li> <li>—— (2006). <i>Handbook in Philosophy of Physics</i>. <a href="/facts/Elsevier/jkPSAEmR">Elsevier</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-444-53002-8.</li> <li>——; Maartens, Roy; MacCallum, Malcolm A. H. (2012). <i>Relativistic Cosmology</i>. Cambridge: University Press.</li> <li>—— (2016). <i>How Can Physics Underlie the Mind? Top-Down Causation in the Human Context</i>. Springer.</li></ul> <h3>Papers</h3> <p>Ellis has over 500 published articles; including 17 in <a href="/facts/Nature_(journal)/XmlJXkFx">Nature</a>. Notable papers include: </p> <ul><li>—— (1978). "Is the universe expanding?". <i>General Relativity and Gravitation</i>. 9 (2): 87–94. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1978GReGr...9...87E">1978GReGr...9...87E</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00760145">10.1007/BF00760145</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0001-7701">0001-7701</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:122166325">122166325</a>.</li> <li>——; Bruni, M. (1989). "Covariant and gauge-invariant approach to cosmological density fluctuations". <i>Physical Review D</i>. 40 (6): 1804–1818. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989PhRvD..40.1804E">1989PhRvD..40.1804E</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevD.40.1804">10.1103/PhysRevD.40.1804</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0556-2821">0556-2821</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10012011">10012011</a>.</li> <li>——; Bruni, Marco; Dunsby, Peter K. S. (1992). "Cosmological perturbations and the physical meaning of gauge-invariant variables". <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>. 395: 34. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992ApJ...395...34B">1992ApJ...395...34B</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086%2F171629">10.1086/171629</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0004-637X">0004-637X</a>.</li> <li>——; Coles, Peter (1994). "The case for an open Universe". <i>Nature</i>. 370 (6491): 609–615. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994Natur.370..609C">1994Natur.370..609C</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F370609a0">10.1038/370609a0</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836">0028-0836</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4282835">4282835</a>.</li> <li>——; van Elst, Henk (1999). "Cosmological models (Cargèse Lectures 1998)". <i>Natoadv.studyinst.ser.c.math.phys.sci</i>. 541: 1–116. <a href="/facts/ArXiv_(identifier)/H6EtgnBe">arXiv</a>:<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9812046v5">gr-qc/9812046v5</a>. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999ASIC..541....1E">1999ASIC..541....1E</a>.</li> <li>——; Virbhadra, K. S. (2000). "Schwarzschild black hole lensing". <i>Physical Review D</i>. 62 (8): 084003. <a href="/facts/ArXiv_(identifier)/H6EtgnBe">arXiv</a>:<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9904193">astro-ph/9904193</a>. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PhRvD..62h4003V">2000PhRvD..62h4003V</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevD.62.084003">10.1103/PhysRevD.62.084003</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0556-2821">0556-2821</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15956589">15956589</a>.</li> <li>——; Virbhadra, K. S. (2002). "Gravitational lensing by naked singularities". <i>Physical Review D</i>. 65 (10): 103004. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002PhRvD..65j3004V">2002PhRvD..65j3004V</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FPhysRevD.65.103004">10.1103/PhysRevD.65.103004</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0556-2821">0556-2821</a>.</li> <li>—— (2005). <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F435743a">"Physics, complexity and causality"</a>. <i>Nature</i>. 435 (7043): 743. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005Natur.435..743E">2005Natur.435..743E</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038%2F435743a">10.1038/435743a</a>. <a href="/facts/ISSN_(identifier)/DPAflDvU">ISSN</a> <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836">0028-0836</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15944681">15944681</a>. <a href="/facts/S2CID_(identifier)/ldJsHa2Y">S2CID</a> <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:35850757">35850757</a>.</li> <li>—— (2012a). <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262299">"Top down causation and emergence: some comments on mechanisms"</a>. <i>Interface Focus</i>. 2 (2): 126–140. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsfs.2011.0062">10.1098/rsfs.2011.0062</a>. <a href="/facts/PMC_(identifier)/dX1zMt71">PMC</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262299">3262299</a>. <a href="/facts/PMID_(identifier)/JlHAvMHt">PMID</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23386967">23386967</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="honours">Honours</h2> <p>In 2019 <a href="/facts/Rhodes_University/5e9BtbDY">Rhodes University</a> in <a href="/facts/Grahamstown/RoHuAgCn">Grahamstown</a> announced it would award Ellis an honorary doctorate in laws (LLD, hc)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/List_of_science_and_religion_scholars/UkpetsDj">List of science and religion scholars</a></li></ul> <h2 id="notes-and-references">Notes and references</h2> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikiquote has quotations related to <i>George F. R. Ellis</i>. <ul><li><a href="http://inspirehep.net/search?ln=en&ln=en&p=find+a+G+F+R+Ellis&of=hb&action_search=Search&sf=&so=d&rm=citation&rg=25&sc=0">Partial list of Ellis' published papers</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.math.uct.ac.za/mam/staff/ellis">George Ellis's web page</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190203151641/http://www.math.uct.ac.za/mam/staff/ellis">Archived</a> 3 February 2019 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sa-scientist-wins-r10m-prize-1.208381#.UCY3X6HibVo">Professor George Ellis: a man of many parts</a>, <a href="/facts/Cape_Argus/gnAs29ET">Cape Argus</a>, 18 March 2004</li> <li><a href="http://www.slac.stanford.edu/spires/find/hep/www?AUTHOR=G+F+R+Ellis&TITLE=&C=&REPORT-NUM=&AFFILIATION=&cn=&k=&cc=&eprint=&eprint=&topcit=&url=&J=&*=&ps=&DATE=&*=&FORMAT=WWW&SEQUENCE=">George Ellis's scientific work as listed at SPIRES</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130401093526/http://www.onbeing.org/program/science-and-hope/172">Interview with George Ellis (Recorded June 2004)</a> at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a> (archived 1 April 2013) on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170226025525/http://speakingoffaith.org/">Speaking of Faith</a> with <a href="/facts/Krista_Tippett/9AVFfQqE">Krista Tippett</a> (<a href="http://www.onbeing.org/program/science-and-hope/transcript/1158#main_content">transcript</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161230231355/http://www.onbeing.org/program/science-and-hope/transcript/1158#main_content">Archived</a> 30 December 2016 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a>)</li> <li><a href="https://www.whyarewehere.tv/people/george-ellis/">George Ellis extended interview with transcript for the 'Why Are We Here?' documentary series</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Gibbs, W. W. (1995). "Profile: George F. R. Ellis – Thinking Globally Acting Universally". Scientific American. 273 (4): 50–55. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1095-50. <a href="/wiki/Scientific_American" target="_blank">/wiki/Scientific_American</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Ellis, George F. R. (22 July 2014). "Physicist George Ellis Knocks Physicists for Knocking Philosophy, Falsification, Free Will". Cross-Check (Interview). Interviewed by John Horgan. Scientific American. Retrieved 13 October 2021. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"The Theology of the Anthropic Principle". Counterbalance Foundation. Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Retrieved 13 October 2021. <a href="https://counterbalance.org/ctns-vo/ellis4-body.html" target="_blank">https://counterbalance.org/ctns-vo/ellis4-body.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Ellis, George F. R. (1993). "The Theology of the Anthropic Principle". In Russell, Robert John; Murphy, Nancey; Isham, Christopher J. (eds.). Quantum Cosmology and the Laws of Nature: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action. Vatican City State: Vatican Observatory. pp. 367–405. ISBN 978-0-268-03976-9. <a href="978-0-268-03976-9" target="_blank">978-0-268-03976-9</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Merali, Zeeya. "Is the Future Already Written?". Discover. Retrieved 19 November 2023. <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/is-the-future-already-written" target="_blank">https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/is-the-future-already-written</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities". Archived from the original on 24 February 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2007. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080224104019/http://www.templetonprize.org/news_templetonprize_2004.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080224104019/http://www.templetonprize.org/news_templetonprize_2004.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Ellis 2006, pp. 1183–1285. - —— (2006). Handbook in Philosophy of Physics. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-444-53002-8. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Ellis, Maartens & MacCallum 2012, pp. 126–140. - ——; Maartens, Roy; MacCallum, Malcolm A. H. (2012). Relativistic Cosmology. Cambridge: University Press. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Felin, Teppo; Koenderink, Jan; Krueger, Joachim I.; Noble, Denis; Ellis, George F.R. (10 February 2021). "The data-hypothesis relationship". Genome Biology. 22 (1): 57. doi:10.1186/s13059-021-02276-4. ISSN 1474-760X. PMC 7874637. PMID 33568195. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7874637" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7874637</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Felin, Teppo; Koenderink, Jan; Krueger, Joachim I.; Noble, Denis; Ellis, George F. R. (10 February 2021). "Data bias". Genome Biology. 22 (1): 59. doi:10.1186/s13059-021-02278-2. ISSN 1474-760X. PMC 7874446. PMID 33568166. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7874446" target="_blank">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7874446</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Ellis 2004a, pp. 607–636. - —— (2004a). Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity. Cambridge: University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83113-0. <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Markus, Lawrence (1976). "Book Review: The large scale structure of space-time". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 82 (6): 805–818. doi:10.1090/S0002-9904-1976-14169-9. ISSN 0002-9904. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1090%2FS0002-9904-1976-14169-9" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1090%2FS0002-9904-1976-14169-9</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>"Rhodes University honours five of Africa's best". grocotts.co.za. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019. <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/03/07/rhodes-university-honours-five-of-africas-best/" target="_blank">https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/03/07/rhodes-university-honours-five-of-africas-best/</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>