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George F. R. Ellis
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<p>George Francis Rayner Ellis, <a href="/facts/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society/cWs8TdC5">FRS</a>, Hon. <a href="/facts/FRSSAf/xzJUANBN">FRSSAf</a> (born 11 August 1939), is the emeritus distinguished professor of <a href="/facts/Complex_systems/eGG3B1nn">complex systems</a> in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cape_Town/a8rCGMht">University of Cape Town</a> in <a href="/facts/South_Africa/vvXQpLgq">South Africa</a>. He co-authored <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/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a> physicist <a href="/facts/Stephen_Hawking/b7dcce7n">Stephen Hawking</a>, published in 1973, and is considered one of the world's leading theorists in <a href="/facts/Physical_cosmology/ww4ChbEq">cosmology</a>. From 1989 to 1992 he served as president of the <a href="/facts/International_Society_on_General_Relativity_and_Gravitation/z01gxRjL">International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation</a>. He is a past president of the <a href="/facts/International_Society_for_Science_and_Religion/N7HbC1La">International Society for Science and Religion</a>. He is an A-rated researcher with the <a href="/facts/National_Research_Foundation_of_South_Africa/oGtj9Ych">NRF</a>. </p><p>Ellis, an active <a href="/facts/Quaker/CQFqeKAJ">Quaker</a>, was a vocal opponent of <a href="/facts/Apartheid/8x87W8ex">apartheid</a> during the <a href="/facts/National_Party_(South_Africa)/eYc5s5ot">National Party</a> reign in the 1970s and 1980s, and it is during this period that Ellis's research focused on the more philosophical aspects of <a href="/facts/Cosmology/yM19zM7Y">cosmology</a>, for which he won the <a href="/facts/Templeton_Prize/Y7zszekY">Templeton Prize</a> in 2004. He was also awarded the <a href="/facts/Order_of_the_Star_of_South_Africa/PAkTCJRJ">Order of the Star of South Africa</a> by <a href="/facts/Nelson_Mandela/FeD1aGFC">Nelson Mandela</a> in 1999. On 18 May 2007, he was elected a <a href="/facts/Fellow/DLThQbkq">fellow</a> of the British <a href="/facts/Royal_Society/KI5yXCuV">Royal Society</a>. </p>