Tevian Dray

{{short description|American mathematician}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Tevian Dray

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|3|17}}

| birth_place = Washington, DC, United States

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| nationality = {{flag|United States}}

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| workplaces = Oregon State University

| alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology BS 1976; University of California, Berkeley Ph.D 1981

| doctoral_advisor = Rainer K. Sachs

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| awards = Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics,{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608175318/https://maa.org/member-communities/maa-awards/teaching-awards/section-award|title=Recipients of the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics; Mathematical Association of America|website=www.maa.org}} Mathematical Association of America, 2017

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| spouse = Corinne A. Manogue

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}}

Tevian Dray (born March 17, 1956) is an American mathematician

who has worked in general relativity, mathematical physics,

geometry, and both science and mathematics education. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010.

He has primarily worked in the area of classical general relativity. His

research results include confirmation of the existence of solutions of

Einstein's equation containing gravitational radiation, the use of

computer algebra to classify exact solutions of Einstein's equation, an

analysis of a class of gravitational shock waves (including one of the few

known exact 2-body solutions in general relativity), and

the study of signature change, a possible model for the

Big Bang. More recently, his work has focused on applications of the

octonions to the theory of fundamental particles.

He was a graduate student under Rainer K. Sachs at

Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D.

in 1981, although much of his dissertation research was done in collaboration with

Abhay Ashtekar. The context of his dissertation, titled The Asymptotic Structure of a Family of Einstein-Maxwell Solutions focused on families of spacetimes which describe accelerating black holes, and which contain gravitational radiation. This demonstrated the existence of exact radiating solutions to the Einstein field equations.{{cite web | url=http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/~tevian/thesis/ | title=Tevian Dray's Dissertation }}

He is currently a professor of mathematics at

Oregon State University. In addition to his ongoing work in mathematical physics,

he has made significant contributions in science education, where he directs

the Vector Calculus Bridge Project,{{Cite web | url=http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/bridge |title = Bridging the Vector Calculus Gap}} an attempt to teach vector

calculus the way it is used by scientists and engineers, and is part of the

development team of the Paradigms Project,{{Cite web | url=http://physics.oregonstate.edu/portfolioswiki | title=Start - Portfolios Wiki}} a complete

restructuring of the undergraduate physics major around several core

"paradigms". He has written a book{{Cite web | url=http://physics.oregonstate.edu/coursewikis/GSR/bookinfo |title = Bookinfo - Geometry of Special Relativity}}

on special relativity and a sequel on general relativity using differential forms,{{Cite web | url=http://physics.oregonstate.edu/coursewikis/DFGGR/bookinfo | title=Differential Forms and the Geometry of General Relativity}} and is coauthor of The Geometry of the Octonions, released in 2015.Reviews of The Geometry of the Octonions:

• {{citation|title=none|journal=Mathematical Reviews|first=Alberto|last=Elduque|mr=3361898|doi=10.1142/8456|year=2015|isbn=978-981-4401-81-4}}
• {{citation|title=Review|journal=J. Geom. Symmetry Phys.|volume=39|year=2015|pages=99–101|first=Danail|last=Brezov|url=https://www.emis.de/journals/JGSP/jgsp_files/vol39/Brezov_rew.pdf}}
• {{citation|title=Review|journal=MAA Reviews|first=Mark|last=Hunacek|date=June 2015|url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/the-geometry-of-the-octonions}}

In 2017 he received a Deborah and Franklin Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics.{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608175318/https://maa.org/member-communities/maa-awards/teaching-awards/section-award|title=Recipients of the Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics; Mathematical Association of America|website=www.maa.org}}