Robert Bartnik is an Australian mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

 based at Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

, where he holds the position of Professor of Pure Mathematics. He is known for his contribution to general relativity

General relativity

General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...

, particularly for demonstrating that the ADM mass of an asymptotically flat spacetime is a well-defined

Well-defined

In mathematics, well-definition is a mathematical or logical definition of a certain concept or object which uses a set of base axioms in an entirely unambiguous way and satisfies the properties it is required to satisfy. Usually definitions are stated unambiguously, and it is clear they satisfy...

 quantity. He gained his Bachelor and Masters degrees from Melbourne University and his PhD from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1983. His dissertation subject was "Existence of Maximal Hypersurfaces". In 2004 he was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

Australian Academy of Science

The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The Academy is modelled after the Royal Society and operates under a Royal Charter; as such it is...

 at which time it was noted

He is perhaps best known for his work with John McKinnon on particle-like solutions of the Einstein Yang-Mills equation, but he has worked widely on applications of geometry and analysis to the study of spacetime structure.