Geoffrey Burbidge

Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge FRS (24 September 1925 – 26 January 2010) was an English astronomy professor, most recently at the University of California, San Diego. He was married to astrophysicist Dr. Margaret Burbidge.

Early life

Burbidge was born in Chipping Norton, where he attended grammar school. His father was Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge, a builder.

Education

He first attended the University of Bristol to study history, but changed to physics. He went to London and received his PhD from University College London in 1951.

In this period, he met Margaret Peachey and they married in 1948.

Work

The Burbidges worked at Harvard, the University of Chicago and Cambridge University, before Margaret obtained work at the California Institute of Technology, while Geoffrey worked at the Mount Wilson Observatory and Palomar Observatory.

They obtained positions at the University of California, San Diego, in 1962.

He was the Director of Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1978 to 1984.

B2FH

In 1957 he and his wife were co-authors, together with William Fowler, the American physicist, and Fred Hoyle, the British astronomer, of a famous paper on stellar nucleosynthesis, which was referred to as the B²FH paper, after the initials of the surnames of the four authors. This paper described the process of stars burning lighter elements into successively heavier atoms which were then expelled to form other structures in the universe, including planets.

Alternative cosmology

In recent years Burbidge was known mostly for his alternative cosmology "quasi-steady state theory", which contradicts the Big Bang theory.

According to Burbidge, the universe is oscillatory and as such expands and contracts periodically over infinite time. This theory, due to its controversial nature, has brought a certain amount of fame (or even infamy) to Burbidge.

Death

Burbidge died on 26 January 2010 in La Jolla, California.

Honours

Awards

• Warner Prize, with his wife (1959)
• Bruce Medal (1999)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2005)
• NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing of the National Academy of Sciences (2007)

Named after him

• Asteroid 11753 Geoffburbidge

External links

• Bruce Medal page
• Geoffrey Burbidge personal page
• Editor of the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1974 to 2004
• Oral History interview transcript with Geoffrey Burbidge 15 November 1974, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives
• Los Angeles Times obituary
• Geoffrey Burbidge - Daily Telegraph obituary