Geoffrey Burbidge

The new knowledge of nuclear physics affected cosmochemistry in another way. A classic paper by astrophysicists Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge (husband and wife), William Fowler, and Fred Hoyle (this paper was so influential that it has come to be known by scientists simply as B2FH ) and a similar contribution by Allister Cameron, both published in 1957, provided the theoretical basis for understanding how elements are produced in stars, as described in Chapter 3. 

Skeptics of the correctness of the Big Bang, especially the famed cosmol-ogists Fred Hoyle and Geoffrey Burbidge, envision smaller bangs occurring as new matter is created in the universe even today. Those are the 3He sources in that picture. 

In Geoffrey Burbidge (ed.) Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics The Universe Past and Present Reflections (p. 16)... 

FIGURE 10.3 From left to right,Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge,WiUiam Fowler, and Fred Hoyle, coauthors of the B FH paper (see text). 

Burbidge, Geoffrey. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 

Both Burbidges received many honors. They were awarded the Bruce Medal, one of astronomy s highest prizes (Margaret in 1982 and Geoffrey in 1999). They also were elected to the Royal Society, she in 1964 and he in 1968. In 1959, the husband-and-wife team were jointly awarded the Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society. Margaret Burbidge received more than a dozen honorary doctorates and was awarded a National Medal of Science in 1984. One of her highest honors was election to the post of president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1976. 

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