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Photo 1966, courtesy University of California, San Diego | ||
| Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge | |||
| 24 September 1925 | 1999 Bruce Medalist | ||
Geoff Burbidge was born in England and educated at the University of Bristol and University College, London, where he earned his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1951. He has said that he got into astronomy by marrying an astronomer. He has worked at Harvard University, Yerkes Observatory, Cambridge University, Mt. Wilson & Palomar Observatories, and the California Institute of Technology, and he has been at the University of California, San Diego since 1962, aside from six years (1978-84) as director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. In 1957 he, Margaret Burbidge, William A. Fowler, and Fred Hoyle showed how all of the elements except the very lightest are produced by nuclear reactions in stellar interiors. He has done extensive research into the physics of non-thermal radiation processes. He has contributed to our knowledge of structures and masses of galaxies and of the physics and structure of quasars. He served from 1974-2004 as editor of the Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He has been a gadfly to cosmologists, frequently challenging the prevailing big bang models. In 2000, long after nearly all cosmologists had accepted the evidence for an evolving universe, he, Fred Hoyle, and N.V. Narlikar expressed continued support for a (quasi) steady state universe.
Personal Web Pages
At CASS
At UCSD Physics Department
Presentation of Bruce medal
Filippenko, Alexei V., Mercury 28, 3, 5 (1999).
Other awards
American Astronomical Society, Helen Warner Prize, 1959 (with Margaret Burbidge)
Indian National Science Academy, Vainu Bappu Memorial Award, 1989.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Jansky Prize, 1985.
Royal Astronomical Society, Gold medal, 2005 (with Margaret Burbidge).
Some offices held
Astronomical Society of the Pacific, President, 1974-76.
Biographical materials
Bonnet-Bidaud, Jean-Marc, “Geoffrey Burbidge : L’art de la critique,” Ciel & Espace, 325, 32-36 (1997) [in French].
Burbidge, E.M., “Watcher of the Skies,” Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics 32, 1 (1994) [mostly about Margaret but includes a bit about Geoffrey].
Robinson, Leif J., “Geoffrey Burbidge: KPNO’s Man at the Top,” Sky & Telescope 66, 195 (1983).
Photos
AIP Center for History of Physics (another) (another)
Caltech Archives (with E.M. Burbidge) (another) (with E.M. Burbidge & W.A. Fowler)
Caltech, at Nuclear Astrophysics 1957-2007 Conference
Clemson University Photo Archive in Nuclear Astrophysics
National Optical Astronomy Observatories
University of California, San Diego
Named after him
Minor Planet #11753 Geoffburbidge
| Please send comments, additions, corrections, and questions to joe.tenn@sonoma.edu |
JST
2007-08-13 |
