Werner Israel

Who is Werner Israel?

Werner Israel, OC FRSC FRS 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 important phenomenon of mass inflation.

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 important celebratory volumes.