1920 – 2015
William Bonnor (1920–2015) was a British mathematical physicist and cosmologist best known for his work on exact solutions to Einstein's field equations and gravitational waves. He contributed significantly to the mathematical foundations of general relativity and wrote accessibly on cosmology and its philosophical implications, including arguments that modern cosmology leaves no explanatory gap requiring divine creative intervention.
Derived exact solutions to Einstein's field equations, including models of gravitational radiation
Authored influential work on the expanding universe and its philosophical implications for theism
Argued that naturalistic cosmology renders divine creative causation explanatorily superfluous
Contributed to the mathematical study of gravitational waves prior to their experimental confirmation
Held the chair of mathematics at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, advancing relativistic cosmology