Geoffrey Burbidge

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.

B2FH

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. According to Burbidge, the universe is oscillatory and as such, expands and contracts periodically over infinite time.

Personal life

He met Margaret Peachey and they married in 1948.

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