The Bruce Medalists: Geoffrey Burbidge

<body bgcolor="#9CCEFF"> <font size="+5"><b><a href="../Intro.html" target="main"><font color="#CC6600">The Bruce Medalists</font></a></b></font> <p>   </p> <table width="100%" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0" > <tr><td width = "33%"> </td> <td width = "34%" align="center"><a href="burbidge-g.jpg"><img src="burbidge-gSml.jpg" alt="" height="126" width="91" border="2"></a></td> <td width="33%" valign="middle"><font size="-2">Photo 1966, courtesy University of California, San Diego</font></td> <td> </td></tr> <tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><font size="+2"><b><font color="#CC6600">Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge</font></b></font></td> <tr><td><b>24 September 1925</b></td> <td align="center"><b>1999 Bruce Medalist</b></td> <td align="right"><b></b></td> </tr> </table> <p>Geoff Burbidge was born in England and educated at the <b><a href="http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/">University of Bristol</a></b> and <b><a href="http://www.phys.ucl.ac.uk/department/history/BFox1.html">University College, London</a></b>, 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, <b><a href="http://astro.uchicago.edu/vtour/history/">Yerkes Observatory</a></b>, <b><a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/univ/history/index.html">Cambridge University</a></b>, <b><a href="http://www.mtwilson.edu/">Mt. Wilson</a></b> & <b><a href="http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomarpublic/index.html">Palomar Observatories</a></b>, and the <b><a href="http://www.caltech.edu/archives/">California Institute of Technology</a></b>, and he has been at the <b><a href="http://physics.ucsd.edu/">University of California, San Diego</a></b> since 1962, aside from six years (1978-84) as director of the <b><a href="http://www.noao.edu/kpno/40th/">Kitt Peak National Observatory.</a></b> In 1957 he, <b><a href="../BurbidgeM/index.html">Margaret Burbidge</a></b>, <b><a href="../FowlerW/index.html">William A. Fowler</a></b>, and <b><a href="../Hoyle/index.html">Fred Hoyle</a></b> 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 <i><b><a href="http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/loi/astro">Annual Reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics</a></b></i>. 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, <b><a href="../Hoyle/index.html">Fred Hoyle</a></b>, and N.V. Narlikar expressed continued <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521662230/o/qid%3D962731383/sr%3D8-1/ref%3Daps%5Fsr%5Fb%5F1%5F3/107-4696020-0991726">support for a (quasi) steady state universe</a></b>. </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Personal Web Pages</font></FONT></b><br><a href="http://cass.ucsd.edu/personal/gburbidge.html">At CASS</a><br> <a href="http://physics.ucsd.edu/fac_staff/profiles/bg.html">At UCSD Physics Department</a></p> <p> <b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Presentation of Bruce medal</font></FONT></b><br> Filippenko, Alexei V., <a href="http://www.astrosociety.org/pubs/mercury/9903/awards.html"><i>Mercury</i> <b>28</b>, 3, 5 (1999)</a>. </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Other awards</font></FONT></b><br> American Astronomical Society, <a href="http://www.aas.org/grants/awards.html#warner">Helen Warner Prize</a>, 1959 (with <a href="../BurbidgeM/index.html">Margaret Burbidge</a>)<br> Indian National Science Academy, <a href="http://www.insaindia.org/recipients.htm">Vainu Bappu Memorial Award,</a> 1989.<br> National Radio Astronomy Observatory, <a href="http://www.nrao.edu/jansky/janskyprize.shtml">Jansky Prize</a>, 1985.<br> Royal Astronomical Society, <a href="http://www.ras.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=244&Itemid=104">Gold medal</a>, 2005 (with <a href="../BurbidgeM/index.html">Margaret Burbidge</a>).<br> </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Some offices held</font></FONT></b><br> <a href="http://www.astrosociety.org/">Astronomical Society of the Pacific</a>, President, 1974-76.<br> </p> <p> <b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Biographical materials</font></FONT></b><br> Bonnet-Bidaud, Jean-Marc, “Geoffrey Burbidge : L’art de la critique,” <i>Ciel & Espace</i>, <b>325</b>, 32-36 (1997) [in French].<br> Burbidge, Geoffrey, “An Accidental Career,” <a href="http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.astro.45.051806.110552"><i>Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics</i> <b>45</b>, 1-41 (2007)</a><br> Robinson, Leif J., “Geoffrey Burbidge: KPNO’s Man at the Top,” <i>Sky & Telescope</i> <b>66</b>, 195 (1983). </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Portraits</font></FONT></b><br> <a href="http://photos.aip.org/">AIP Center for History of Physics</a> (several)<br> <a href="http://archives.caltech.edu/search_catalog.cfm?results_file=Detail_View&recsPerPage=1&firstRecToShow=0&search_field=burbidge%20geoffrey&entry_type=photo&photo_id=&cat_series=" >Caltech Archives</a> (with <a href="../BurbidgeM/index.html">E.M. Burbidge</a>)   (<a href="http://archives.caltech.edu/search_catalog.cfm?results_file=Detail_View&recsPerPage=1&firstRecToShow=1&search_field=burbidge%20geoffrey&entry_type=photo&photo_id=&cat_series=">another</a>)   (<a href="http://archives.caltech.edu/search_catalog.cfm?results_file=Detail_View&recsPerPage=1&firstRecToShow=2&search_field=burbidge%20geoffrey&entry_type=photo&photo_id=&cat_series=">with E.M. Burbidge & W.A. Fowler</a>)<br> <a href="http://www.krl.caltech.edu/%7Ebmck/BBFH50/photos/DSC00103.JPG">Caltech, at Nuclear Astrophysics 1957-2007 Conference</a><br> <a href="http://www.astro.clemson.edu/NucleoArchive/PhotoList/">Clemson University Photo Archive in Nuclear Astrophysics</a><br> <a href="http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0542.html">National Optical Astronomy Observatories</a><br> <a href="http://www.igpp.ucsd.edu/aboutigpp/doors.cfm">University of California, San Diego</a><br> </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><font color="#CC6600">Named after him</font></FONT></b><br> <a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Yourtel?elements=11753+Geoffburbidge+53800+3.1820103+0.09615790+3.54575+194.51740+299.17343+253.3075900+13.60+0.15+MPO47644&aim=10&z=1&edump=-xe">Minor Planet #11753 Geoffburbidge</a> </p> <p><b><font size="+1"><a href="BurbidgeGRefs.html" target="_self">More references</a></font></b></p> <p> <center><b><a href="../Intro.html" target="main">The Bruce Medalists</a></b></center> </p> <p> <table width="100%"> <tr> <td valign="TOP"><font size="-1">Please send comments, additions, corrections, and questions to<br> <a href="MAILTO:joe.tenn@sonoma.edu"> joe.tenn@sonoma.edu</a><br></font></td> <td align="RIGHT" valign="TOP"><font size="-1"><i> <a href="http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/people/faculty/tenn/">JST</a> </i><br> <a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html">2009-01-28</a></font></td> </tr> </table> </p> </body>