Geoffrey Burbidge

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Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge Template:Postnominals<ref name=frs>Template:Cite journal</ref> (24 September 1925 – 26 January 2010) was an English astronomy professor and theoretical astrophysicist, most recently at the University of California, San Diego. He was married to astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was the second author of the influential B²FH paper which she led.

Early life and educationEdit

Burbidge was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, a small market town in the Cotswolds, where he attended grammar school. His father, also Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge, was a builder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He first attended the University of Bristol to study history, but changed to physics, receiving his degree in 1946. In 1947, he went to London and received his PhD from University College London (UCL) in 1950.<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> While at UCL he worked with Professor H. S. W. Massey who was then head of the department of mathematics.<ref name="Burbidge2007">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Career and researchEdit

With his wife Margaret Burbidge he worked at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Cambridge, before Margaret obtained work at the California Institute of Technology, while Geoffrey worked at the Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory. They both obtained positions at the University of California, San Diego, in 1962.<ref name="ODNB" /> He was the Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1978 to 1984.<ref name="NYT"/> He was the Editor of the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1974 to 2004.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

B²FHEdit

In collaboration with American physicist William Fowler and British astronomer Fred Hoyle, he and his wife were co-authors of Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, a fundamental paper on stellar nucleosynthesis published in 1957. It is commonly referred to as the B²FH paper after the initial letters of the four authors' surnames. The paper describes the process of stars burning lighter elements into successively heavier atoms which then are expelled to form other structures in the universe, including other stars and planets.<ref name="NYT"/>

Alternative cosmologyEdit

In his late years, Burbidge was known mostly for his alternative cosmology "quasi-steady state theory", which contradicts the Big Bang theory.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Burbidge, the universe is oscillatory and as such, expands and contracts periodically over infinite time.

Awards and honoursEdit

Warner Prize, with his wife (1959)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Fellow of the American Physical Society (1988) <ref> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Bruce Medal (1999)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, with his wife (2005)
NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing of the National Academy of Sciences (2007)<ref name=Reviewing>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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The Asteroid 11753 Geoffburbidge is named after him

Personal lifeEdit

He met Margaret Peachey and they married in 1948.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref>

Burbidge died on 26 January 2010 in La Jolla, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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