Fred Hoyle (1915 - 2001) was a British astronomer and astrophysicist best known for his work on the origin of the chemical elements in stars. He was a principal architect of the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and, with Hermann Bondi and Thomas Gold, developed the steady-state model of the universe. [1] Although he remained a lifelong critic of the expanding-universe hypothesis, he coined the term "Big Bang" in a 1949 radio broadcast. [2]
Early life and education
Fred Hoyle was born on 24 June 1915 in Bingley, a mill town in the West Riding of Yorkshire. [1] He attended Bingley Grammar School before going up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read mathematics and distinguished himself with the Mayhew Prize and the Smith's Prize. [3]
Stellar nucleosynthesis
Hoyle's most enduring contribution was to explain how elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are produced. In the early 1950s he argued that carbon could form in stars only if the carbon-12 nucleus possessed a particular energy resonance; the predicted state was later confirmed experimentally and is now known as the Hoyle state. [2] In 1957 he co-authored, with Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge and William Fowler, the paper Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, often called B2FH, which set out how successive nuclear reactions inside stars build up the periodic table. [1] Fowler received the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for this line of research, an award many observers felt should have included Hoyle. [2]
Cosmology and the "Big Bang"
In 1948, together with Bondi and Gold, Hoyle proposed the steady-state theory, which held that the universe has no beginning and maintains a constant density as it expands through the continuous creation of matter. [1] During a 1949 BBC radio talk he described the competing idea of a universe born in a single explosive event as the "Big Bang", a label that endured even as observational evidence increasingly favoured that model over his own. [2]
Later career and other pursuits
Hoyle founded the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Cambridge in 1967 and served as its first director, but he resigned his Cambridge posts in 1972 after a series of academic disputes. [3] He was knighted the same year. [1] A prolific popular writer, he produced science fiction such as the novel The Black Cloud (1957) and, in later decades, advanced disputed ideas on panspermia with Chandra Wickramasinghe. [1]
Legacy
Hoyle received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Medal, the Balzan Prize and, in 1997, the Crafoord Prize. [1] Despite his often contrarian positions, his account of how stars manufacture the elements remains a cornerstone of modern astrophysics. [2]
