Sverre Aarseth

Sverre Aarseth
Born(1934-07-20)20 July 1934
DiedDecember 28, 2024 (aged 90)
NationalityNorwegian
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Known forN-body dynamics
AwardsBrouwer Award (1998)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsInstitute of Astronomy, Cambridge
Doctoral students

Sverre Johannes Aarseth, (20 July 1934 – 28 December 2024) was a research scientist at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. Aarseth spent his retirement as an active researcher. He dedicated his career to the development of N-body codes[1] ("a code" in astrophysical jargon refers to a computer program or library or a group thereof[2]). He is the author of the NBODY family of codes, the current iteration is NBODY7.[3] His areas of research included the effects of stellar evolution in N-body codes, the influence of black holes on stellar systems, the evolution of globular clusters, and the use of GPUs to increase the speed of his codes.

Aarseth was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1986–87.[4] He was awarded the 1998 Brouwer Award for his work on advancing dynamical astronomy.[5] The asteroid 9836 Aarseth is named in his honour.

Outside of research, Aarseth's interests included mountaineering, trekking and wildlife.[6] He is also a keen chess player, and was awarded the title International Master for Correspondence in 1981.[7] Aarseth died on December 28, 2024, at the age of 90.[8]

References

  1. ^ Aarseth, A. J. (2012). "Mergers and ejections of black holes in globular clusters". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 422 (1): 841–848. arXiv:1202.4688. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.422..841A. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20666.x. S2CID 62826586.
  2. ^ "code". Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  3. ^ Aarseth, A. J. (2012). "Mergers and ejections of black holes in globular clusters". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 422 (1): 841–848. arXiv:1202.4688. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.422..841A. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20666.x. S2CID 62826586.
  4. ^ Institute for Advanced Study: A Community of Scholars
  5. ^ "List of Brouwer Award Winners". American Astronomical Society. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Sverre's Interests". Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  7. ^ "International Correspondence Chess Federation International Masters" (PDF). International Correspondence Chess Federation. November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Sverre Aarseth, father of open source stellar dynamics software, has passed on to a higher orbit – ASCL.net". 7 January 2025. Retrieved 10 January 2025.