Rate My Professor Bob Gowdy

Bob Gowdy, Ph.D., known professionally as Robert H. Gowdy, holds the position of Associate Professor and Associate Chair for General Relativity and Cosmology in the Department of Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University. His academic background includes a B.S. in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute awarded in 1963, an M.S. in Physics from Yale University in 1964, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Yale University in 1968. Gowdy has maintained a long-standing career at VCU, beginning as an Assistant Professor in 1978 and advancing to Associate Professor in 1982, where he continues to serve. He has held leadership roles as Chair of the Department of Physics during multiple terms, including 1991-1992, 1998-2006, and was succeeded in the role in 2006. His contributions extend to departmental administration as Associate Chair and to teaching courses such as elementary astronomy, where he has inspired students, including those pursuing advanced degrees in astrophysics.

Gowdy's research focuses on theoretical general relativity and cosmology, with an emphasis on geometrical methods in physics. He has produced influential work on spacetimes exhibiting specific symmetries and gravitational wave models. Key publications include "Gravitational Waves in Closed Universes," Physical Review Letters 27, 826 (1971); "Vacuum Spacetimes with Two-parameter Spacelike Isometry Groups and Compact Invariant Hypersurfaces: Topologies and Boundary Conditions," Annals of Physics 83, 203-241 (1974); "Projection Tensor Hydrodynamics: Generalized Perfect Fluids," Astrophysics and Space Science 64, 145-162 (1979); "Geometrical Spacetime Perturbation Theory: Regular Higher Order Structures," Journal of Mathematical Physics 22, 988 (1981); "Cylindrical Waves in Expanding Universes: Models for Compact Sources," Physical Review D 75, 084011 (2007, with B. Douglas Edmonds); and "Gowdy Spacetimes," Scholarpedia 9(3):31673 (2014). These papers explore exact solutions to Einstein's equations, cosmological models, and boundary conditions in vacuum spacetimes, earning substantial citations in the field. Gowdy has advised graduate theses on topics including singularities in Gowdy universes, warp drive spacetimes, and geodesic structures in Schwarzschild geometry, fostering research in general relativity at VCU.