Quick Facts
Biography
Werner Israel, OC FRSC FRS (born October 4, 1931) is a Canadian physicist.
Born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, he received his B.Sc. in 1951 and his M.Sc. in 1954 from the University of Cape Town. He received his Ph.D. in 1960 from Trinity College, Dublin.
In 1990, together with Eric Poisson, Israel pioneered the study of black hole interiors and, following up a suggestion of Roger Penrose, discovered the phenomenon of mass inflation (which should not be confused with inflationary cosmology).
He is a Fellow in the cosmology programme of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Until his retirement in 1996 he was a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta. In 1996 he was appointed Adjunct Professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Victoria. Together with Stephen Hawking, he has coedited two volumes.
Honors
- 1972: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
- 1974-75: Sherman-Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, CALTECH
- 1981: Medal of Achievement in Physics of Canadian Association of Physicists
- 1983: University of Alberta Research Prize in Natural Sciences and Engineering
- 1984: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize
- 1986: Fellow of the Royal Society, London
- 1986-91: Senior Research Fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- 1994: Officer of the Order of Canada