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Story: Physics, chemistry and mathematics

Roy Kerr, Christchurch, 2013

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Roy Kerr, Christchurch, 2013

Physicist and mathematician Roy Kerr holds a portrait of Albert Einstein, in Christchurch in 2013. In 1963 Kerr revolutionised physics by producing a set of mathematical solutions to Einstein's equations of general relativity. The 'Kerr solution' gave an explanation for the astronomical phenomenon of rotating black holes. Kerr spent the late 1950s at Cambridge University and most of the 1960s at the University of Texas at Austin. He returned to New Zealand in 1971, and became professor of mathematics at the University of Canterbury .

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Fairfax NZ, The Press

Reference: 2 March 2013, p. C2

by Iain McGregor

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How to cite this page

Rebecca Priestley, Physics, chemistry and mathematics – New Zealand mathematicians and chemists overseas, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43369/roy-kerr-christchurch-2013 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Rebecca Priestley, published 15 November 2013.