Eric Poisson

Eric Poisson is a Professor of Physics at the University of Guelph, specializing in general relativity and gravitational physics. He serves as Third Year Coordinator and Graduate Program Coordinator, with an office in MacN 452. His research focuses on gravitational waves, black holes, neutron stars, and relativistic tidal interactions. He is an Affiliate Member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (since 2008).

Education: B.Sc. (Physics, Laval University, 1987), M.Sc. (Theoretical Physics, University of Alberta, 1989), Ph.D. (Theoretical Physics, University of Alberta, 1991). His doctoral work under Werner Israel explored black hole interiors.

Research Interests: Exploiting gravitational-wave astronomy to study dense astrophysical objects like neutron stars and black holes. Key areas include tidal interactions in binary systems, relativistic perturbation theory, and gravitational self-force effects. Recent work includes analyzing tidal deformations of black holes and neutron stars, as well as contributions to post-Newtonian theory and numerical relativity.

Publications: Over 100 peer-reviewed articles, with recent focus on tidal effects in compact binaries, anisotropic fluids, and black hole horizon dynamics. Notable works include the 2014 textbook Gravity: Newtonian, Post-Newtonian, Relativistic and 2010's A First Course in General Relativity.

• Awards: Herzberg Medal (2004), President’s Distinguished Professor Award (2000–2001), American Physical Society Fellowship (2008)
• Editorial Roles: Former editor for Physical Review Letters, Classical and Quantum Gravity, and Physical Review D.
• Labs/Teams: Active in Perimeter Institute collaborations and the LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave astronomy community.

Advising: Supervised over 30 graduate students since 1999, including notable alumni like Michael LaHaye (PhD 2025) and John Ryan Westernacher-Schneider (PhD 2019). Current students include Tristan Pitre (PhD Candidate) and Tom Cadogan (MSc Candidate).