James Hartle RIP: Remembering a Beloved GR Teacher

[George Jones]

James Hartle has died.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of using his text to teach an undergrad GR course.

 

[robphy]

(It seems Wikipedia has not been updated yet.)
Here's an announcement https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/2133

 

[robphy]

Here are slides from a talk by Hartle about his textbook from
AAPT Topical Workshop: Teaching General Relativity to Undergraduates, Syracuse University, July 20-21, 2006
https://www.aapt.org/doorway/tgrutalks/hartle/HartleTalk1of5.htm
(See also https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0506075 )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hartle
http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~hartle/
https://arxiv.org/find/gr-qc/1/au:+Hartle/0/1/0/all/0/1

https://academictree.org/physics/tree.php?pid=25570
https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=76859

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Jim Hartle Grand Finale 20190607 549 (from his 80th birthday party for him at the KITP at UC Santa Barbara 6/7/2019)

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James Hartle - What is Quantum Cosmology? (2020)


The impact of cosmology on quantum mechanics (J. Hartle) - 2021
James Hartle - Quantum Mechanics and Cosmology (QM90) - 2017


James Hartle - The bubble multiverses of the no-boundary quantum state
(Talk at Stephen Hawking 75th Birthday Conference on Gravity and Black Holes held at Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, Cambridge, July 2-5, 2017.)


Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology (APS April Meeting 2015 plenary session III.)


James Hartle - Einstein's Vision and the Quantum Universe (2015, Fermilab)
VIDEO
https://vms.fnal.gov/asset/detail?recid=1938508&recid=1938508

James Hartle - Einstein's Vision and the Quantum Universe (2004, Perimeter Institute Grand Opening Gala)
VIDEO
https://www2.perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/james-hartle-einsteins-vision-and-quantum-universe

(More from videos from Perimeter:
https://www2.perimeterinstitute.ca/search/node/hartle
https://pirsa.org/speaker/James-Hartle
)

 

[robphy]

https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202307/hartle.cfm

 

[robphy]

Jim Hartle’s Legacy
(Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics [KITP], UCSB, Feb 12, 2024 - Feb 13, 2024)
https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/activities/hartle-c24
Online talks: https://online.kitp.ucsb.edu/online/hartle-c24/

 

[robphy]

James Burkett Hartle: a Biographical Memoir
Gary T. Horowitz, Kip S. Thorne
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.14288

James Burkett Hartle was a theoretical physicist who made major contributions to our understanding of relativistic stars, black holes, and cosmology. Most of his career, however, was devoted to studying the universe as a quantum system. As a result, he was known as the father of quantum cosmology. He is best known for two seminal papers with Stephen Hawking that introduced two quantum states of fundamental importance: the "Hartle-Hawking vacuum" for matter fields outside a black hole, and the "no-boundary wave function of the universe" for cosmology. Jim (as everyone called him) was a warm and caring person who was genuinely concerned with the success of his students, postdocs, and colleagues. He was generous with his time and helped to foster a culture of a welcoming family among gravitational physicists.

"This memoir is published in the Biographical Memoir Series of the US National Academy of Sciences. 8 pages"