Smarr

Smarr is a surname that appears in academic contexts, most notably in the field of physics through Smarr's formula, a relation in black hole thermodynamics named after the American physicist Larry Smarr. Smarr's formula expresses a scaling relationship among a stationary black hole's mass, surface gravity, horizon area, angular momentum, and electric charge. It is part of the framework known as black hole mechanics, which parallels thermodynamic laws in general relativity.

Larry Smarr is an American physicist and computer scientist recognized for his early work in high-performance computing and for advocating data-intensive science. He has been associated with major research institutions in the United States and has contributed to the development of computational infrastructures that support large-scale simulations and data analysis in physics, astronomy, and related fields. The naming of Smarr’s formula reflects his influence in both theoretical and computational aspects of modern physics.

Beyond these associations, Smarr is primarily encountered as a surname in scholarly literature, especially in references to Smarr's formula and to researchers bearing the Smarr name. The term does not denote a single geography or institution in the way a place name might.