Mordehai Milgrom


Mordehai "Moti" Milgrom is an Israeli physicist and professor in the department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel.

Education

He received his B.Sc. degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1966. Later he studied at the Weizmann Institute of Science and completed his doctorate in 1972.

Career

Before 1980 he worked primarily on high-energy astrophysics and became well known for his kinematical model of the star system SS 433. In the academic years 1980–1981 and 1985–1986 he was at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 1983, he proposed modified Newtonian dynamics as an alternative to the dark matter and galaxy rotation curve problems, although preliminary work and discussions on this subject started as early as 1981.

Milgrom and modified Newtonian dynamics

Milgrom is a prominent proponent of the hypothesis that Newton's law of universal gravitation should be modified for very small accelerations, typically of the order of 10−11g and less.

Personal life

Milgrom is married and has three daughters.