Saul Rappaport is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. Rappaport became Assistant Professor in the MIT Department of Physics in 1969 and became a full professor in 1981. From 1993 to 1995, he was head of the Astrophysics Division. He received his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...

in 1963 and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1968. His main research interest is in binary systems containing collapsed stars—

white dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

s (including

pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward E ...

s), and

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can defo ...

s. He was elected a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its moti ...

in 1989 ''"for major contributions to our understanding of the evolution of binary stellar systems containing a compact member and for the determination of the masses of neutron stars"''

Selected publications

Some of his publications in the ''

Astrophysical Journal ''The Astrophysical Journal'', often abbreviated ''ApJ'' (pronounced "ap jay") in references and speech, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astrophysics and astronomy, established in 1895 by American astronomers George Ellery Hale and Jam ...

'', one of the major astrophysics journals, are: *"A New Technique for Calculations of Binary Stellar Evolution, with Application to Magnetic Braking Rappaport S, et al. ''Astrophysical Journal'' 275 (2): 713-731 1983. *"On the Evolutionary Status of Bright, Low-Mass X-ray Sources," Webrink, RF, Rappaport S, Savonije GJ, ''Astrophysical Journal'' 270 (2): 678-693 1983. *"The Evolution of Highly Compact Binary Stellar-Systems," Rappaport S, et al. ''Astrophysical Journal'' 254 (2): 616-640 1982. *"Formation and Evolution of Luminous Supersoft X-ray Sources," Rappaport S, et al. ''Astrophysical Journal'' 426 (2): 692-703 Part 1 May 10, 1994. *"The Rings Around the Egg Nebula," Harpaz A, Rappaport S, Soker N, ''Astrophysical Journal'' 487 (2): 809-817 Part 1 Oct 1 1997. *"Collisions of Free-floating Planets with Evolved Stars in Globular Clusters," Soker N, Rappaport S, Fregeau J, ''Astrophysical Journal'' 563 (1): L87-L90 Part 2 DEC 10 2001.

References

External links

Official faculty web page at MIT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rappaport, Saul Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American astronomers 21st-century American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society