Geoffrey Burbidge
{{short description|British astronomer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_name = Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge
| name = Geoffrey Burbidge
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
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| image = Geoffrey Burbidge.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1925|09|24}}
| birth_place = Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, U.K.
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2010|01|26|1925|09|24}}
| death_place = La Jolla, California, U.S.
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| fields = Theoretical astrophysics
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| thesis_title = The interaction between mesons and light atoms
| thesis_url = http://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b2989533
| thesis_year = 1951
| doctoral_advisor = H.S.W. Massey
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| awards = {{Plainlist|
- Warner Prize (1959)
- Bruce Medal (1999)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2007)
- NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing (2007)
}}
| spouse = {{Marriage|Margaret Burbidge|2 April 1948}}
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| website = {{URL|http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/gburbidge.html}}
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Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS}}{{cite journal|last1=Longair|first1=Malcolm|authorlink1=Malcolm Longair|last2=Rees|first2=Martin|authorlink2=Martin Rees|title=Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge. 24 September 1925 – 26 January 2010|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|year=2017|volume=63|pages=55–78|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2017.0002|doi-access=free}} (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{{cite web|url=http://casswww.ucsd.edu/personal/gburbidge.html|title=Geoffrey Burbidge personal page|website=ucsd.edu}} and was the second author of the influential B2FH paper which she led.
Early life and education
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.{{cite web | title =Geoffrey Burbidge | work =The Telegraph - Obituaries | publisher =Telegraph Media Group | date =2010-03-05 | url =https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/science-obituaries/7521242/Geoffrey-Burbidge.html | access-date =2012-03-19 }}
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.{{Cite ODNB|id=102557|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/102557|title=Burbidge, Geoffrey Ronald [Geoff]}} While at UCL he worked with Professor H. S. W. Massey who was then head of the department of mathematics.{{cite journal|last1=Burbidge|first1=Geoffrey|title=An Accidental Career|journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics|volume=45|issue=1|year=2007|pages=1–41|issn=0066-4146|doi=10.1146/annurev.astro.45.051806.110552|bibcode=2007ARA&A..45....1B}}
Career and research
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. He was the Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1978 to 1984. He was the Editor of the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1974 to 2004.{{cite journal |last1=Burbidge |first1=Geoffrey |title=Preface by The Editor |journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics |date=September 1974 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=|doi=10.1146/annurev.aa.12.010174.100001 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.aa.12.010174.100001 |access-date=28 July 2021|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal|date=2005|title=Preface|url=http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.aa.43.080505.100001|journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics|language=en|volume=43|issue=1|pages=|doi=10.1146/annurev.aa.43.080505.100001|issn=0066-4146|last1=Blandford|first1=Roger|last2=Kormendy|first2=John|last3=Van Dishoeck|first3=Ewine|url-access=subscription}}
=B<sup>2</sup>FH=
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.
=Alternative cosmology=
In his late years, Burbidge was known mostly for his alternative cosmology "quasi-steady state theory", which contradicts the Big Bang theory.{{cite news | title = Two Against the Big Bang | url = http://discovermagazine.com/2005/nov/two-against-the-big-bang | author = Richard Panek | date = 2005-11-22 | publisher = Discover magazine}} According to Burbidge, the universe is oscillatory and as such, expands and contracts periodically over infinite time.
=Awards and honours=
- Warner Prize, with his wife (1959){{cite web | url = http://aas.org/grants/awards.php | title = Grants, Prizes, and Awards | publisher = American Astronomical Society | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101222143439/http://www.aas.org/grants/awards.php | archive-date = 22 December 2010}}
- Fellow of the American Physical Society (1988) {{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1988&unit_id=&institution=|title=APS Fellow Archive|publisher=APS|access-date=26 September 2020}}
- Bruce Medal (1999){{cite web | url = http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/BurbidgeG/index.html | title = The Bruce Medallists: Geoffrey Burbidge | access-date = 2010-01-27}}
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, with his wife (2005)
- NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing of the National Academy of Sciences (2007){{cite web |title=NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing |url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_scirev |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=27 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110318130922/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_scirev |archive-date=18 March 2011}}{{cite web | url = http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=01172007 | title = Academy honors 18 for major contributions to science | date = 2007-01-17}}
- The Asteroid 11753 Geoffburbidge is named after him
Personal life
He met Margaret Peachey and they married in 1948.{{cite news | title=Geoffrey Burbidge, Who Traced Life to Stardust, Is Dead at 84| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/science/space/07burbidge.html?ref=science| author = Dennis Overbye | date = 2010-02-06 | newspaper = New York Times}}
Burbidge died on 26 January 2010 in La Jolla, California.{{cite web | last =Childs | first =Martin | title =Geoffrey Burbidge: Astrophysicist notorious for his rejection of the Big Bang theory | work =The Independent| date =2010-04-24 | url =https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/geoffrey-burbidge-astrophysicist-notorious-for-his-rejection-of-the-big-bang-theory-1953019.html | access-date =2012-03-19 }}
References
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External links
{{Wikiquote}}
- [http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/BurbidgeG/index.html Bruce Medal page]
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4543 Oral History interview transcript with Geoffrey Burbidge on 15 November 1974, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/32332 Oral History interview transcript with Geoffrey Burbidge on 4 June 1975, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33264 Oral History interview transcript with Geoffrey Burbidge on 21 October 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
- [http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-geoffrey-burbidge30-2010jan30,0,4002440.story Los Angeles Times obituary]
- [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/science-obituaries/7522978/Geoffrey-Burbidge.html Geoffrey Burbidge] - Daily Telegraph obituary
{{Authority control}}
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Category:People from Chipping Norton
Category:American astrophysicists
Category:British astrophysicists
Category:20th-century British astronomers
Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol
Category:Alumni of University College London
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:University of California, San Diego faculty
Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society